Naruto Future Times 200
by raxies94
Summary: Set 200 years in the future. Characters are generally the same, except for maybe two. Read 1st chapter to understand better. Its kind of a weird future AU. Please take a look. My 1st fanfic
1. Prolouge

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, any of the characters, or the Naruto Universe.

First, let me give you a little information about the setting and such of this fanfiction. It is set in the Naruto Universe, but is oh, say, 200 years in the future. But the technologies and stuff like that generally remains the same. Yeah, I'm kinda crazy like that.

Oh yeah, just to make it easier on me when I am writing and easier on you guys when you are reading, many characters in this fanfiction will have the same names and looks as their Naruto counterparts. Yeah, I'm too lazy to make up my own characters. (Please note: just because they look the same and have the same name doesn't mean they have the same personality. Remember these are different people.) The characters in this fanfiction will be the descendants or some such of the originals. And just so you know, I also won't use much Japanese except for the title/suffix system.

Be forewarned, my fanfic is kind of...out there for the first two chapters. The story gets much easier to follow after the first two chapters.

Anyway, please read my first fanfiction and tell me what you think. I'm open to any sort of criticism. But now on to the story.

**Prolouge**

_200 years ago, Naruto Uzumaki became the 6th Hokage. He and his friends had accomplished much in their lives, including the destruction of the Akatsuki and the retrieval of their renegade friend, Sasuke. While Naruto was the Hokage, Konoha lived in an era of peace and prosperity. Naruto and his friends became the elite of the shinobi world. Although they faced challenges, Konoha and it's ally Suna never backed down and never failed. _

_But time sometimes passes in the blink of an eye. After many years of security, Konoha's legendary leader and his friends were gone, leaving the village to a new generation. But with this new generation also came new conflicts. The 4th Great Ninja War decimated all the hidden villages, including Konoha. It would take generations for the shinobi villages to return to their normal size. However, Konoha's and Suna's alliance allowed them to come out slightly better than the rest. All the shinobi world marveled at how long the alliance between the two lasted. _

_Even the citizens of Konoha and Suna wondered how long their alliance could really last. Everyone agreed that there should be some sort of unbreakable tie. _

_25 years prior to the current events, a wise councilor and seer of Konoha foresaw something terrible before his death. As he lied on his death bed, he told the Hokage, "Prepare the village for what will come years from now," and passed away before he could tell what the tragedy would be. _

_The 16th Hokage meditated on what he should do for years before he came to a solution. It was outrageous, and took several months to convince the Konoha advisors it was the correct course of action. He began the process immediately. _

_His plan was to use Konoha's and Suna's most brilliant scientists and medic-nins to use genetic engineering and cloning technology to recreate some of the most powerful ninja of the past, then raise them from the time they could walk to be shinobi, to be killing machines. _

_They started simply, beginning with DNA they had on hand from a powerful ninja. They began with Kabuto Yakushi, feeling that they could manipulate his genes to make him loyal to the village. Suna was all too ready to help, feeling that these ninja could become the unbreakable tie between the two villages. They offered the DNA of Temari of the sand. _

_They next created two clones of incredible women from Naruto Uzumaki's time. They made clones of Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga. _

_Suna made their greatest contribution by offering the DNA of Gaara of the Desert. It was unknown if the clone would have the powers of the original, but it was a risk the cloning team was willing to take. _

_The scientists were confidant when they made the last clone. They began to merge 2 DNA structures together to make a more potent combination for potential. They combined the DNA of the Uchiha brothers, Itachi and Sasuke, naming the clone Itachi since it looked more like the elder brother. _

_However, the last clone developed some…quirks in his personality due to the combination of the DNA, and it really didn't resemble either of the brothers in the personality area. _

_The 16th Hokage passed away before the project was concluded. He was unable to see the project that was supposed to save his village. _

_When the clones were old enough, 3 (Temari, Gaara, Sakura) were sent to Suna with Anko Mitarashi to begin their training, thus making sure that Suna had a fair share of the clones. The other 3 (Itachi, Kabuto, Hinata) stayed with Kakashi Hatake to begin their own training.

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_

Well, I hope you liked the intro to the setting at least. Like I said before, please read and rate it. Sorry if I was a little to chatty in explaining things, but you probably wouldn't have understood the setting. I'll try to make the next chapter longer, I promise.


	2. Timeline

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto series in anyway.

**Timeline**

Itachi jumped over the fence with a little difficulty, since his 6-year old body hadn't

Really developed his muscles to their fullest yet. He was the youngest of his squad and most of the time, he felt like the weakest. Kakashi-sensei didn't help the problem either. It seemed like Sensei tried to pick on Itachi and point out all his weaknesses.

Itachi finally got tired of living in the ANBU compound and being bullied by Kakashi-sensei. He decided to sneak out of the compound and see the village. He'd never seen the village before, having spent all of his life living in the compound and training. His earliest memories were of Kakashi-sensei beginning to train him.

Itachi started running towards the village. Well, in the direction he thought the village was in. Eventually he saw the Hokage Stone and knew he had reached the village. The Hokage Stone had been expanded by a previous Hokage, using an Earth Technique, to accommodate the growing number of Hokages. It was now twice its original size.

Itachi smiled and ran towards what appeared to be a playground. Children his own age were there practicing to become ninja one day. Sure, they were only using wooden shuriken, which was much different than Itachi's training, but they were still training and having fun.

One of the children saw Itachi and said, "Hey, do you want to play with us?" The boy had slightly darker skin than the others and dark brown hair. Itachi could barely contain his excitement. "Yeah, I wanna play!" Itachi yelled. Itachi ran down to the playground and received some wooden shuriken.

Itachi quickly began to dominate the game. His training with his sensei wasn't just for show. Soon all of the children except the boy who had invited Itachi to play were out. The brown-haired boy ran into the forest around the playground. Itachi pursued him and they were soon very far away from the rest of their friends.

Itachi saw the brown-haired boy and threw the last of his wooden shurikens. The shuriken flew toward the boy and barely hit his sleeve as the boy dodged. "Hah! I got you!" Itachi yelled in excitement. The brown-haired boy laughed and said, "I'm starting to wish I hadn't asked you to play. Let's head back to the others."

They both started back towards the playground. They were merely walking and minding their own business when a ninja jumped out of the brush near them. He held a kunai knife and had a headband that had what looked like grass on it. Itachi mentally berated himself for not knowing more about ninja headbands.

The ninja held up his kunai and said, "You are coming with me," pointing towards Itachi. "And you will run away if you know what's good for you," he said pointing towards Itachi's new friend. His friend suddenly jumped in front of him, and said, "You can't take him!"

The ninja appeared to sigh, and then rushed forward, too fast for either of the children to do anything about. He appeared in front of Itachi's friend and thrust his kunai forward. The boy's body slumped forward and the grass ninja freed his kunai and callously said, "I don't have time to waste."

Itachi was suddenly very scared. He felt something well up within him but he wasn't sure what it was. He recognized the sad feeling for losing his friend. But there was something else inside him starting to awaken. He blinked and when he re-opened his eyes, something was different.

When the ninja moved towards him, he saw every move the grass nin made with much more clarity than he had before. He avoided the man's hands as the ninja reached for him and tried to run away. But he tripped on a root and went down to the ground.

Suddenly he heard what sounded like a thousand birds and a scream. He looked up, not knowing what to expect and saw his sensei. Kakashi looked towards him, and looked towards the body of the boy. Kakashi turned back towards Itachi and walked towards him.

_He didn't look too upset_, Itachi decided, _but he must be mad that I ran away. _Kakashi squatted down and looked at Itachi. "It looks like you made a friend," Kakashi said. "I told you why you couldn't leave the compound. You're too valuable. I knew another village would try to kidnap you." Itachi began to cry. He hated that his friend had died to protect him, hated that he was worth so much to the village, and hated his life. Kakashi picked him up and began walking back to the compound.

**Itachi, Age 6: Gained Sharingan**

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Itachi walked towards the compound's training area. The ANBU compound was the base of all ANBU operations. It was basically a series of hallways and a large open air forested training area complete with miniature waterfall. Of course it also had a large library with books about the village's history and about being a shinobi. Itachi, Kabuto, and Hinata were required to read for at least 2 hours a day as a part of their training. Itachi, Kabuto, Hinata, and Kakashi all lived there as permanent residents. The training area was where they did all of their training. By now, Itachi knew every rock in the training area.

Itachi knew they would go through some more taijutsu routines today. His squad had been doing the same thing for a month. Kakashi-sensei had said that he had a goal in mind for all of the taijutsu training they had been doing, but if his sensei did have a goal, Itachi didn't see it.

By the time he got to the training area, Hinata and Kabuto were already sparring. Hinata was turning into a taijutsu expert by using her Gentle Fist style taijutsu.

Itachi looked around for Kakashi-sensei, but didn't see him anywhere. Sensie would probably want to spar with him, Itachi thought.

Itachi heard the sound of ground cracking and rock crumbling as his sensei jumped out of the ground behind him. "You should always be on guard," said his sensei, as he swung a fist at Itachi. Itachi barely blocked the punch and jumped away. Kakashi came at him too fast for Itachi to keep up with, even with his sharingan. Kakashi bombarded him with kicks and punches, leaving him battered and bruised.

"What's the matter? Can't you keep up with my movements?" asked Kakashi, as he moved in once again. Itachi tried his best to see the movements Kakashi made, but his eyes weren't that sharp. He closed his eyes for a moment, gathering a breath. When he opened his eyes, he saw **every **move Kakashi made with perfect clarity. He could predict the movements his sensei could make.

Kakashi watched as Itachi's sharingan evolved, watched as the two tomoes in each of Itachi's eyes grew to three. Kakashi attacked his student a few more times just to make certain that Itachi could see every move he made. "Good. Now try and keep your eyes that way all the time. And tomorrow, we move on to sword practice.

**Itachi, age 7: Sharingan fully evolved

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**

An alarm was shouted. ANBU ushered Itachi, Kabuto, and Hinata into a secure room. Kabuto looked concerned, Hinata looked a tad bit frightened, and Itachi looked resentful for being put in the room.

"They said there was an intruder," Kabuto said. "What kind of idiot would try to attack an ANBU compound?" Itachi wondered. "I hope he doesn't find us," Hinata said while moving to sit down in a corner. "Don't worry Hinata, we'll protect you," Itachi said while trying to comfort her. Kabuto agreed, "We'll take care of anybody who tries to get you." Hinata looked up and was comforted by the fact that her two friends were watching over her, especially when one pair of eyes was crimson.

The sound of a scream drew them back to the real world. The scream had been right outside the door. Kabuto listened at the door. "Nothing," he said after an eerie silence. Then the door moved. Kabuto jumped away from the door.

As the door opened, four ANBU with no symbol on their masks came in. They were injured, bruised, bleeding, and one looked like he recently lost an arm. But they had just come past several Konoha ANBU and came out the victors. That alone spoke of their skill.

"We need to get at least one," said the apparent leader. One of them came in and roughly grabbed Itachi. Itachi cried out, but the man carrying him was already running. "I hope they slow down the Flashing Fang," the man carrying him said. Itachi was about to say something, but the man gagged him to stifle any complaint.

After so much running, they came to a cliff that overlooked the compound. Smoke was rising in the night sky and alarms were stiff shouting. The man stopped in front of another man. The ANBU said, "Here is one. I'll go back and see if the rest survived. Hopefully I can slow down the Fang before he gets here." The ANBU raced off.

Itachi looked at his new captor. He wore a white cloak and a symboless ANBU mask. If he was in league with the ANBU who invaded the compound, he would be powerful. "So," said the man, interrupting Itachi's thoughts, "you are one of the abominations of the 16th Hokage. Don't worry. I am about to purify his and your sin." The man started moving towards Itachi. Itachi tried to back away, but the man had used a paralysis technique on him. All he could do was watch.

The man stood behind Itachi now and began to make hand signs. After what seemed like an eternity, the hand signs stopped, and the man slammed the palm of his hand into the base of Itachi's neck. An immeasurable amount of pain suddenly coursed through him. The man watched on calmly and stated, "There is a one in ten chance you will live. Even if you do live, this seal will make sure that you show the world that you were a mistake. Enjoy the pain, abomination."

The next few moments were covered in a haze of pain for Itachi. He vaguely remembered Kakashi arriving. He was nearly covered in blood. Most of it wasn't his own. He looked angry. Angrier than Itachi had ever seen him. A battle ensued between Kakashi and the man. Although Itachi didn't remember most of the battle, he did remember distinctly that Kakashi won using the Lightning Blade.

When Itachi woke up, he was in a hospital bed. Kakashi was sitting next to him. Even though most of Kakashi's face was behind a mask, Itachi had learned to read masked expressions from being Kakashi's student. Right now Kakashi's expression looked like he was troubled…and irritated.

Kakashi noticed that Itachi and looked towards Itachi. There was a silence as Kakashi groped for the right words to say. Finally Kakashi said, "That man…he did something to you. It's a miracle that you survived in the first place, considering that there is only a—," "A one in ten chance of survival?" Itachi said, finishing the statement for Kakashi. "Yes," said Kakashi.

"What happened to you could have many different consequences. The cursed seal can give you great power. But that power comes at a price. While the seal is in effect it eats away your chakra. But that's not the worst of it. You will become more ruthless, less rational, and may cooperate with your teammates or work to a prearranged strategy. I was able to restrict the seals spread across your body thanks to my own seal. But the seal is dependant on your will," said Kakashi.

"Could I safely use it to gain this great power?" asked Itachi.

"You could, but to do so will require strong will and much training."

Itachi processed the information for a moment, then answered, "Let's get started."

**Itachi, age 9: Gained Cursed Seal**

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Itachi fell on the ground and grunted with pain. Kakashi walked over to Itachi and looked down at him. Itachi looked up at Kakashi with something close to hatred in his crimson eyes. Kakashi had to be the most… "challenging" sensei there ever was.

Itachi's squad was in the ANBU compound's training area, sparring as usual. Kakashi was trying to teach Itachi how to use Chidori. Itachi was failing miserably. Itachi had never used a technique that drained so much chakra before. Even though he could use it twice a day, it used so much chakra, it was almost impractical. Of course, he couldn't overlook the pros of the technique considering that it could kill a person with a single jab.

Itachi looked over at his right hand. The skin was burned from the excessive use of chakra used to make Chidori and the electricity from Chidori itself. He couldn't control it very well yet.

Kakashi looked down and said impassively, "Again." Itachi looked at Kakashi incredulously. "Are you out of your mind? I've already used Chidori twice today. Anymore and I'll die," Itachi shouted.

Kakashi calmly stated, "If you don't try again from your own free will, I'll be forced to attack you until you use Chidori again."

"And if I die?"

"You won't."

Itachi got up and began gathering chakra into his palm again. He grunted in effort, yet couldn't get anymore chakra to come into his palm.

Kakashi looked on, looking disappointed.

Itachi finally ran out of options and activated his cursed seal. Intricate, curving lines ran over his body, giving him an extra boost of chakra. The chakra in his hand became so strong that it became visible. Itachi concentrated, turning the chakra into actual electricity.

Kakashi was now watching with interest. "Now use it," said Kakashi.

Itachi ran forward, gaining the necessary speed to use Chidori.

Itachi jabbed the wall with his right hand. Chidori blazed for a moment on the wall before Itachi ran almost completely out of chakra. Itachi ended Chidori and looked at the results of Chidori. There was a large hole in the wall.

Itachi looked at his hand, watching smoke rise from his hand from the intensity of the chakra from Chidori. Itachi smiled.

**Itachi, age 11: Learned Chidori**

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I told you it would be longer this time. Anyway, like before, please read and review. If you have any criticisms, please let me know. The next chapter probably won't be as long as this one. Please keep reading.


	3. Reunited

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto Series in any way or sort.

**Reunited**

Current Time-

Itachi leaned against the Konoha entrance gates. He was supposed to be meeting their brother and sisters from Suna, but they were already late by half an hour. Itachi, Kabuto, and Hinata had started calling themselves siblings years ago. Itachi guessed that the Suna squad probably had too.

"Punctuality is a virtue," said Itachi, before closing his eyes and taking another drag on his cigarette. "Or if it isn't, it should be."

"You know, patience is a real virtue," said a female voice coming from Itachi's left. Itachi looked to his left, outside the gate, and saw four people. He checked the pictures of his Suna brethren and saw that at least the four people matched the picture IDs.

Itachi looked towards them, trying to find the female voice that had chastised him. Considering three of the four people were women, it was a hard guess.

That is until the same female voice spoke again. "You haven't lost patience with _me_ already have you? Because, you know most people try to continue a conversation." Itachi checked his picture ID's and saw that the one that was talking to him was Temari.

"Well, you'll have to excuse me, since I didn't know which one of you was talking," Itachi retorted. He looked her over. She wore a rather plain dark kimono, with a red sash. Her hairstyle was rather exotic, since it had four pigtails, and of course no one could miss the giant fan, especially since was about 2/3rds of Temari's body length.

Temari giggled a little and said, "It appears our Konoha brothers and sister aren't very well informed."

Itachi wanted to say something back and continue their verbal sparring, but held his tongue, and greeted his Suna brethren. That is, he sort of held his tongue.

"I'd continue our battle of wits, but it would appear you are unarmed," remarked Itachi. Temari began to say something, but Itachi cut her off and started to greet his siblings. He went to the sensei first. She wore a net mesh outfit that would have distracted most men and a long jacket. "Anko-sensei, it's a pleasure to meet you. I only hope you are easier on your students than Kakashi is," said Itachi with a slight bow. Anko looked a little amused. Itachi thought it was probably that she hadn't seen a student with an attitude like his towards their sensei before.

Next, Itachi moved to the girl with pink hair, a red shirt, and a pink skirt. Sakura, said her ID. "Sakura-san, it's also a pleasure to meet you. I've heard you are quite the medic, and quite the taijutsu user," Itachi said, again with a slight bow. Sakura gave him a slight bow back and said, "I appreciate your praise Itachi-san."

Itachi now looked towards the youngest of the Suna brood, Gaara, dressed in a mostly red outfit with the most noticeable feature being the gourd on his back. They were both the youngest of their respective squads, only 17. Sakura and Hinata were 18, and Temari and Kabuto were 19. Itachi really didn't know how old Kakashi or Anko were. "Gaara-kun, I've been looking forward to seeing your technique. I've been told it's quite amazing to watch," Itachi said, this time extending his hand. Gaara stared at his hand a moment before unfolding his arms and taking Itachi's hand. "I've heard Anko-sensei talk of how Kakashi-sensei says you are his best pupil," Gaara said, trying to compliment him. A remark like that would have sounded like praise to any other student, but to Itachi it sounded like an insult. "Really?" Itachi said, sounding bitter. "I bet he does."

Itachi moved on from Gaara's questioning stare and stood in front of Temari. "Temari-san, I think you and I had enough of an introduction," Itachi said with a slight bow, hoping to avoid confrontation in front of the others. Temari obviously didn't mind if her siblings saw her bicker, or just didn't care. She gave him an icy stare and said, "Tell me, do the rest of our Konoha sibling lack such basic manners, Itachi-_kun_?" She said it stressing the –kun suffix, reminding him that she was the senior in the situation. Itachi, however, had no qualms about being rude, or speaking out even though he was the youngest. He mainly just wanted the Suna squad to _think_ he was polite. So much for his master plan.

"Actually my brother and sister are two of the politest people you'll ever meet. At least that's what I think, Temari-_chan_," Itachi said as he turned around. "Now if you'll follow me, we'll head to the ANBU compound. Kakashi said he has something he wants to talk to us about." Itachi started walking towards the direction of the compound without making sure the Suna squad was following him.

Anko, Sakura, and Gaara looked a little shocked, but started after Itachi anyway. Temari stood there looking a little red-faced, though her friends and sensei knew it was from anger and not embarrassment. Embarrassment would have meant that the red stain clawing its way across her face was a blush, but Temari didn't blush. Anyone close to her knew that.

Temari composed herself and looked up. Her friends and that baka were already several yards ahead of her. She started jogging a little to reunite with her team. Sakura looked over to her, concern on her face. "Are you alright?" Sakura asked. "I haven't seen you that mad since you couldn't master that technique." "I'm fine," Temari answered. "I just didn't expect our guide to be so rude."

Up ahead, Itachi sneezed. He turned his head and looked back at Temari and Sakura. _They look kind of like their gossiping_ Itachi thought. _Probably about me_. "Hey, what are you two talking about back there?" Itachi asked.

Gaara and Anko also looked back towards Temari and Sakura now. Sakura blushed, a little embarrassed she had been caught gossiping about their guide, but Temari looked as though she really didn't care.

"What do you care?" Temari asked, trying to hide the venom in her voice. Itachi still heard it. "Just curious," Itachi shrugged.

The group took off again and started walking through the streets of Konoha. Itachi could feel Temari glaring at him, and was sure that if "staring daggers" was literal, he'd be a pincushion. He thought about some insult or retort he could make, but that would only further anger Temari. The angrier Temari was, the harder it would be for her and Itachi to work together as a team.

Temari, however, continued to glare at Itachi's back, thinking of ways she could retaliate against her new "brother." _Calling me Temari-chan? After we'd known each other a whole two minutes, no less! _thought Temari. _Maybe I can find out where he sleeps and turn his bed upside down…or something_. Temari quickened her pace, catching up to Itachi.

Itachi turned a questioning look upon Temari out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing. Temari glanced at him for a moment. "Do all Konoha shinobi adopt such self-destructive habits?" Temari asked, motioning towards the cigarette Itachi had been twirling in his fingers.

Itachi held up the cigarette and explained, "No, it's just me. Most people I meet tell me I'm an idiot for smoking. But then again, most people aren't genetic clones trained to be shinobi since they could walk, and most people aren't Kakashi's punching bag. It's stressful." As if talking about it reminded Itachi how stressful his life was, he took long drag from the cigarette.

"That doesn't seem like a good reason to inhale poison to me," Temari remarked.

"That's where you and I disagree. Seems like a perfect reason."

"So what happens if you get lung cancer?"

"I live with a master medic ninja. The current Hokage, Tsunade-sama, is a medical genius, and I'm told she trained Sakura-san. What do you think will happen if I get lung cancer, Temari-_chan_?" Itachi said, stressing the –chan suffix.

Temari reddened for a moment, and Itachi smirked in amusement. But Temari regained her composure almost instantly, and answered, "Well, if you put it that way, I suppose you'll just ask one of the medic ninjas to fix your lungs. But don't you think that seems unethical Itachi-_kun_?"

"Ninjas shouldn't have ethics." Itachi answered in a matter of fact way.

"Really? Do tell."

"Being ethical implies that you have rules, that there is a written or unwritten set of rules that tells you what is right and what is wrong. Ninjas can't be ethical when they are on a mission. You have to do whatever you can to accomplish the mission. Even if you have moral or ethical rules, the enemy probably won't be as merciful as you are."

Temari chewed on that for a moment, then said, "Don't you think that is rather cold way of life? Would you not have mercy on an innocent bystander in a battle?"

Itachi's face hardened, then he said, "That's what makes being a ninja difficult. I would want to spare that innocent person, but I couldn't guarantee their safety, or that the enemy, knowing my morals, wouldn't try to take that person captive." Itachi looked bitter, but continued. "I never asked to be a shinobi," he almost whispered.

Temari looked surprised. "What would you have chosen?" Temari asked.

Itachi turned his head and looked straight at her, giving Temari her first good look of his crimson eyes. "I don't know," Itachi said at length. "I probably would have still been a shinobi since I don't really think I'm good at anything other than succeeding in my mission and killing people."

Temari turned away. She'd been going on Chunin level missions since she was 12. Itachi would have been 10 years old about that time. She knew what Itachi meant when he said that. She didn't think she could have been anything else other than a shinobi either. But then again, none of them were given a chance to find out.

The group walked silently the rest of the way to the compound. At long last they reached their destination. Two ANBU guards were standing at the door. Itachi strode up to them and tried to pass without showing any ID. A katana blocked his way. "ID please," asked one of the ANBU. Itachi, irritated, retorted, "I find it amusing you ANBU require ID from the people living here. Kind of stupid, don't you think?"

The ANBU remained motionless, and said again "ID please."

"And if I don't?" Itachi asked, simmering.

Both ANBU glanced at each other. They both seemed to be concerned. "Taicho, please just give us your ID," asked the ANBU again. (Taicho-captain)

"Fine," Itachi said, as he gave in. "It's not worth beating you two up and getting in trouble."

The ANBUs, visibly relieved, checked his ID and the IDs of Temari, Gaara, Anko, and Sakura. "You may all pass," said one ANBU as he lifted his katana.

The Suna team all had one question in mind as they walked past the compound's entrance, but Anko voiced it first. "Taicho?" she asked.

Itachi glanced back towards them, looking as though he expected the question. "I don't know why they started calling me that. I led a few missions. They were mediocre. I wasn't particularly proud of them. But the ANBU started calling me taicho. I thought it was just for the duration of the missions. But they didn't stop. So now, to some of the ANBU, I'm taicho." Itachi suddenly took out a cigarette and lit it, taking a drag. "It's too bad," Itachi said between huffs on the cigarette, "that to me, the ANBU in this building are almost like enemies."

The rest of the group digested that for a moment. After a few seconds, the group started on again.

Finally, they reached their destination. Itachi led the group to a small amphitheater. It was normally used to hold ANBU meetings, but it would serve their purpose today. Kakashi, Hinata, and Kabuto were already there. Itachi could tell Kakashi was angry they had been late.

"What took so long?" Kakashi asked, slight anger in his tone.

"They arrived late," Itachi said. He took a seat next to Hinata and Kabuto in the audience section of the amphitheater. Kakashi was already talking to Anko.

Even though Itachi did nearly hate the ANBU, they had their uses. One of them had once told Itachi that Kakashi and Anko had been lovers before Anko was sent away to Suna. He had once wondered if that was why Kakashi seemed angry all the time. He wondered if their feelings for each other still existed, or whether time had eroded and tore their love to shreds.

Hinata leaned over to Itachi and quietly asked, "How nice did they seem?" Hinata had always been a shy girl. It had been even worse when she was younger. But Kakashi had made sure she had grown into an able shinobi. Itachi reassuringly patted her back and said, "They all seem okay except for the one with four pigtails. Watch out for her," Itachi said. Hinata nodded and got up, moving next to Kakashi to introduce herself. Kabuto leaned over and asked, "What's wrong with the one with four pigtails?"

Kabuto had been Itachi's best friend for as long as he could remember. Even though Kabuto was the oldest, he wasn't a natural leader. And Hinata had been too shy for that role. The leader role had fallen to Itachi, and Kabuto had always stood beside him.

Itachi turned and faced his best friend. He knew he couldn't lie to Kabuto. Kabuto would be able to sense if he was lying. Being a medic-nin, Kabuto could identify symptoms of lying. Itachi had tried lying to Kabuto before.

"She's…" Itachi thought for a moment, groping for the right word, "…feisty."

Kabuto looked towards Temari. "She kind of looks like it," he said with a smile. "Sounds like your type."

Itachi rolled his crimson eyes at his best friend, and watched as Kabuto rose to introduce himself.

**To be continued**

* * *

Good news! I've actually gotten a few hits on this story. That means at least a few people are reading it, right? I was kind of afraid this story would be a little far out for most people, but somebody is reading it at least. I'm a little disappointed no one has left a review yet, but there really hasn't been any story besides this part yet… Anyway, as always, please leave me a review or shoot me a PM or something. All criticisms are welcome.


	4. The Talk

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto universe, series, or characters.

**The "Talk"**

After everyone was introduced. Kakashi and Anko moved to the stage of the amphitheater while both of their squads sat down in the audience section. Itachi noticed that Kabuto, Sakura, Hinata, and Gaara were all bundled in one spot. He'd kind of expected that Kabuto and Sakura would get along great, since both of them were medic-nins, but he hadn't expected that Gaara and Hinata would get along as well. Of course, it's always the quiet types.

Temari was still standing looking as though she didn't want to sit next to the larger group, didn't want to sit next to Itachi, but didn't want to sit alone either. She finally decided on sitting next to Itachi, one row down from the main group.

"Don't say anything, baka," Temari said, warning Itachi.

"What do you think I would say?" Itachi said, trying to look innocent.

Itachi never thought that a giant iron fan could move so fast if he hadn't seen it with his own sharingan eyes. As soon as Itachi finished talking, Temari reached behind her back and brought her fan down over her head, with the intention of smashing Itachi's head. Luckily for Itachi, his sharingan saw every move, giving him enough time to bring up his hands to catch the fan in a clap.

Temari pulled the fan back and hissed, "I told you not to say anything, baka." Itachi looked at her as if she was insane. Probably not a bad assumption, considering what just happened. Temai calmly put her fan back in its original position and turned her attention to Kakashi. Itachi stared at her for a few more moments before doing the same.

Kakashi and Anko looked ready to start. "We have something we need to discuss," Kakashi said.

"I hope it's not about where babies come from," Itachi said, smirking. "We all already know that the stork brings normal babies, and that a monkey ninja brings ninja babies."

Temari looked at him as if he were stupid. Itachi heard some giggling behind him, but didn't turn around. Itachi just continued to smirk.

Kakashi sighed. Anko mumbled so low only Kakashi could hear, "I'm looking forward to hearing your report on him." Kakashi continued. "We need to discuss what all of your futures will hold, now that your training is more or less over."

"We'll be used for missions for both Suna and Konoha, right?" Kabuto asked.

"That's correct," Kakashi responded, but he kept going. "But you will also have to take the Jonin exam soon. We managed to convince the Kazekage and Hokage that you didn't need to take the Chunin exam. That would have wasted valuable training time. But the two kages aren't going to let us automatically pass you on to Jonin without a test."

"How likely is it that we will pass on the first try?" Gaara asked.

"Considering, your skill and power, very likely," Kakashi answered.

"We are also going to switch the teams, to make sure you can all work together," Anko said. "From now on, Itachi, Temari, and Sakura will be one team, and Kabuto, Gaara, and Hinata will be the other."

Temari looked kind of annoyed when she heard that, and gave Itachi a distasteful look. Itachi merely smirked and relit his dead cigarette, and took a drag. Temari turned her attention back to her senseis. Itachi made sure Temari wasn't looking, then put his shinobi skills to the test, and carefully moved the iron fan away from Temari from its spot by her feet.

Kakashi made sure everyone was paying attention before saying, "Everyone get to know each other. I want all of you to be able to work together. You all have the rest of the day off. Do something with one of your siblings you don't know very well." Itachi looked at his watch. Three in the afternoon. They still had quite a bit of daylight to burn.

Kakashi and Anko got off the stage of the amphitheater, and moved away from their students. Itachi briefly thought about what they were about to do, but dismissed such dirty thoughts from his mind. He instead turned his crimson eyes to look at his other teammates. Gaara, Hinata, Kabuto, and Sakura were all moving off as one group. _Probably to some restaurant in Konoha_ thought Itachi.

Temari watched them leave with a somewhat sad expression on her face. "Left you behind, didn't they?" Itachi asked once only he and Temari were left in the amphitheater.

Temari turned around and looked at him, the sad look gone from her eyes and replaced with understanding. "They want to get to know their new siblings. Can't blame them. I guess that leaves me by myself."

"I'm still here."

Temari looked at him for a moment then said, "That doesn't count for much, baka."

Itachi feigned an expression of hurt, and said, "You know, that hurts."

"I think you'll live."

"Maybe. But I have a question for you," Itachi said. Temari shot him a warning glance, thinking that he was about to try to insult her. She was pretty close. "When you were staring at me on the journey up here," Itachi said, watching Temari's reddening face with amusement. "Did you see something you like?"

Temari's face reddened even more. She reached for her giant iron fan, then her facial expression changed to shock as she realized it wasn't there.

"Looking for this?" Itachi asked, holding up her fan.

Temari reached for it, yelling, "Give me my fan!"

Itachi held her off with one arm. "Promise you won't beat me with it?"

Temari backed off, giving up, "Yeah, I promise…" she said, looking downcast.

Itachi handed her the iron fan, which Temari took possessively. Itachi watched her amusedly. "So, want to go get something to eat?" Itachi inquired.

Temari would have loved to have said "No" to the baka's request. But just as she opened her mouth to respond, her stomach responded for her. Temari's stomach let out a low, long growl. Her face reddened, but unlike most times, this time the red stain across her face was not from anger. Temari couldn't really believe it, but it would seem as though she was blushing.

Itachi raised an eyebrow, but got up and said, "Follow me," before Temari could argue. He made a turn down one of the many corridors. Temari followed obediently, but was running out of patience.

"Where are we going?" Temari asked. Itachi looked back towards her and said, "I want to change into my normal clothes before we leave." Itachi made another turn and arrived in what appeared to be a laundry room. He moved towards one of the dryers and removed some clothes.

Itachi paused and said, "Close your eyes. We don't know each other that well yet, do we Temari-chan?" Temari turned around and closed her eyes, fighting off yet another slight blush. _This won't continue_, she thought to herself, _I'll make _him_ blush sooner or later_. Temari then grinned as she thought about what Itachi would look like if he blushed.

Itachi touched Temari's shoulder, signaling her that she could open her eyes. Temari turned around and gave him a once-over look. Itachi now wore a loose white shirt, dark pants, and a black obi to tie it all together. (cough Sasuke's Part II outfit, with the sword, with a black obi instead of the gayish purple tie thing cough)

Itachi closed his shirt, so it wouldn't show off so much of his chest. Temari then demanded, "Where are you planning on taking me?"

Itachi looked up at her with his crimson eyes and asked, "What do you like to eat?"

Temari thought for a moment, then said, "I'm in the mood for seafood."

Itachi started out of the room, calling on Temari to follow him, and began walking towards a seafood restaurant in Konoha. They reached their destination soon enough, and moved towards a booth.

Itachi sat down and picked up a menu. Temari sat across from him, also picking up her menu. "You know," Temari playfully said as she scanned her menu, "It almost seems like you are taking me on a date."

Itachi glanced up from his menu. Temari could see a slight reddish tint on his cheeks before he said, "You read too much into things. I just didn't want you to be alone."

Temari studied him for a moment, then said, "How sweet of you." With obvious sarcasm in her voice.

Itachi looked back to his menu and called a waiter, ordering baked salmon and tea. "What do you want?" Itachi asked her. Temari thought for a moment, then asked, "Are you paying?" Itachi sighed, disappointed the woman wanted him to pay. It wasn't like he couldn't afford it, but he was saving his money… "Yeah, I'll pay. Think of it as a statement of goodwill," Itachi relented. Temari grinned evilly, then told the waiter, "Two lobsters and tea, please."

Itachi's mouth dropped slightly. Temari saw his reaction and began laughing. Hard. Itachi didn't close his mouth until he felt his tongue drying out. "Two lobsters? That should be enough goodwill to last a year!" Itachi almost yelled. Temari merely shrugged and tried to look innocent. "I'm hungry," Temari said innocently.

Itachi slumped down in his seat and looked over the bill. 6,720 yen, tax and tip included. That was a lot of money for two people to eat dinner. Itachi checked his wallet. Barely enough. He shot Temari a death glare across the table. Temari was still trying to look like she hadn't been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Next time, you are paying," Itachi said.

"Next time? What makes you think I'll go out with you again?" Temari said, smirking.

Itachi merely sighed.

* * *

As soon as Kakashi and Anko were out of their students' sight, Anko reached for Kakashi's hand. She started running, practically dragging Kakashi wherever she went. She turned down several halls in the ANBU compound, finally arriving at Kakashi's room. 

"I'm surprised you remembered where my room was after all this time," Kakashi observed. Anko didn't respond, but opened the door and pushed Kakashi inside. Anko went inside herself and closed the door. A soft click could be heard from outside the room.

Inside, Anko took off her trench coat as Kakashi took off his ANBU arm guards. Anko watched him for a moment then said, "You were always too slow."

Kakshi looked up and said, "I'm a little out of practice."

"Out of practice? For taking off your clothes?" Anko remarked.

"Out of practice for trying to please a crazy woman," Kakashi answered with what Anko recognized was his playful tone.

Anko lost her patience, and jumped on Kakashi, pushing him onto the bed. Anko practically ripped his mask off, revealing his true face. Anko pressed their lips together. They spent the next few minutes simply lying in each other's arms, catching up on years of not being together. Kakashi broke the kiss first, and said, "I've missed you."

Anko raised her head and answered, "Me too." They returned to making out, and both of them knew if would be a long night.

* * *

Itachi hungrily bit into his salmon, while Temari gave him something close to the evil eye. "How come your food came so quickly?" Temari asked. 

"They don't get a lot of call for lobster, so they probably have to remember how to cook it," Itachi answered. He smirked a little at the girl who, a few minutes ago, had gained the upper hand in their game of sorts.

Temari's stomach growled loudly enough to attract the attention of the people sitting a few booths down from Temari and Itachi. The customers turned their heads a little to see what exactly was making that growling noise. Itachi laughed now, and Temari blushed again. _Three times in one day? What's wrong with me?_ She thought to herself.

Itachi finally took pity on her and said, "Alright, I'll share some of my food, if I can have some of your lobster. Deal?" Temari really wasn't in a position to refuse, and said "Fine," as if she were sulking.

Itachi cut off a large portion of his salmon and passed it over to Temari. Temari began eating quickly, showing how hungry she really was.

* * *

Back in the ANBU compound, Itachi showed Temari where her room was. "It's right next to my room, so if you need to know where something is, feel free to knock on my door and ask," Itachi said, hoping to show the Suna shinobi he wasn't all bad. 

Temari nodded, not really sure if she _did_ know where everything was in the compound. But she also wanted to get one final shot in before bed. "How nice of you, Itachi-kun, to offer your _services_ anytime of the night," Temari said teasingly. "Tell me, do you offer your _services_ to every girl you meet, or am I just special?"

Itachi reddened for a moment before saying, "Well, if that's the way you feel, maybe I'll take my _services_ elsewhere, Temari-chan."

Temari giggled a bit, then said, "I guess I can make do. Good night, Itachi-kun."

Itachi responded and said, "Good night, Temari-chan."

**To be Continued**

* * *

Alright, another chapter up and running. I'm pretty pleased with myself getting the chapters up at this pace. As always please leave a review. All criticisms are welcome. I know some of the setting was and is kind of "out there" but it's about to get a lot simpler, trust me. Anyway, I'll probably have the next chapter up by tomorrow. Or would it be today, considering it's midnight where I live? Hmmm. 


	5. Socializing

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto series, universe, or characters.

**Socializing**

Gaara woke up earlier than everyone else, as usual. Gaara got out of bed and got dressed. He looked at his reflection in a mirror, making sure he looked presentable. He rubbed his temples for a moment. The move from Suna to Konoha had been stressful for him.

Gaara looked at the clock beside his bed. 5:00 AM. He slept a little late last night. His insomnia didn't let him sleep very long. Most of the time, however, Gaara didn't think he really needed that much sleep, despite whatever Sakura said.

Gaara opened his bedroom door and walked outside, into the hallway. He started walking towards the center of the compound, which was supposed to have a training area. He walked in silence for a few minutes, then as he turned down a corridor, he nearly bumped into Itachi.

Itachi scooted back before they bumped into each other. "Sorry," Itachi said. "I didn't think anyone besides me was up yet." Gaara apologized as well, "The fault was mine, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Where were you heading?" Itachi asked. "The training area," Gaara answered. "The training area, huh? I hate to break it to you, but it's this way. Follow me," Itachi said.

Itachi began to walk off, and Gaara followed. Gaara fell into pace with Itachi. They were silent for a few minutes before Gaara said "I can't seem to be able to find my way around this place," trying to be social. "It took me a long time to understand the compound's layout too, and I've been living here since birth. If you get lost, call for an ANBU to help you," Itachi said.

"Were you heading to the training area too, Itachi-kun?" Gaara asked, curious.

"I was heading to the library, but the training area is just as good," Itachi answered.

"You like to read, I take it?"

"It's alright. I read about the people we were cloned from. I found out a few interesting facts I didn't know before."

"Like what exactly?"

Itachi smiled a little wryly, almost bitter, and answered, "Hinata, Sakura, and Temari were all cloned from pretty normal shinobi. They were all powerful, but normal enough. Us guys, however don't exactly come from the nicest people of the past."

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked, now very curious.

"The man Kabuto was cloned from served a crazy, twisted maniac, and betrayed so many people it wasn't even funny. You were cloned from the 5th Kazekage, you know that. However, before he became Kazekage, he had his share of… issues. The man I was cloned from had the best past of all though," Itachi said, smiling bitterly as he said the last part.

Gaara waited a moment before asking, "What did he do?"

Itachi paused a moment before answering, "He killed his entire clan, and joined a vile organization of S-ranked criminals."

Gaara looked at Itachi for a moment then, reading between the lines, said, "You are afraid you could turn out like him aren't you?"

Itachi looked at Gaara in surprise, like he hadn't been expecting Gaara to say that. After a moment of thinking about it, Itachi said, "Yeah, I guess. I've never been able to find out why he did it."

They walked in silence for a moment before Gaara said, "You don't seem like the kind of person who'd slaughter his clan."

Itachi looked at Gaara a moment before saying, "Thanks. That actually means a lot."

The two shinobi reached their destination after a few more minutes of walking. Several ANBU were in the training area brushing up on their techniques. Anko was also there, watching the ANBU train.

Anko noticed them and turned around, screaming out, "My students, come here!"

Gaara and Itachi seemed to let out a simultaneous sigh and began walking towards her. _Great, Kakashi's girlfriend isn't a slave driver, she's just crazy_, Itachi thought to himself. Once they reached Anko she told Gaara to work on some technique Itachi didn't know. Gaara moved off, and Anko turned her attention on Itachi. She stared at him for a few minutes, seemingly expecting him to do something. Some people would have fidgeted or gotten nervous under her scrutinizing gaze, but Itachi merely pulled out a cigarette and lit up, taking a drag. Eventually though, he got irritated by the intensity of Anko's gaze. A little funny, considering how most men would love for her to look at them like that. His crimson eyes betrayed his irritation before he asked, "What?" sounding very annoying.

Anko made a mental note of how stubborn Itachi was. That would be a good attribute if he wanted to learn this technique. Anko finally spoke, but didn't take her eyes off of him. "Itachi, do you want to learn a powerful technique? I could teach it to you, but it will take some time to learn it."

Itachi seemed to chew on this for a moment, before saying "You'd have to tell me what kind of technique it is, Anko-sensei. And you forgot my title."

Anko went on to explain, "The technique would come in handy in many situations. I won't tell you anymore until you agree to learn it. And I didn't forget your title, I left it out on purpose."

Itachi thought it over for a moment before saying, "Fine, I'll learn it. What harm will another technique do me. And it's rude to not call someone by their title."

Anko nodded and gathered chakra at the bottom of her feet and began to run up a nearby wall. Itachi followed suit and soon both of them were at the top of the ANBU compound looking down on the training center. Anko started hopping onto tree branches and Itachi once again followed suit. "Where are we going?" he asked in between hops.

Anko kept jumping and answered, "I don't want Kakashi to know what technique I'm teaching you."

That really didn't make sense to Itachi but he'd wouldn't die if he didn't know the details. He wasn't a girl for God's sake.

Finally they reached a suitable area for training and stopped beside a river. Anko surveyed the area, and after deeming it worthy, she bit her thumb and made some hand signs. "Summoning Technique!"

In a puff of smoke a large dragon creature appeared. It was about seven feet tall and 20 feet long. It was a long creature, looking almost like a snake, except it had arms and legs, and it actually had teeth, unlike a snake. It also had mustache and beard looking appendages originating near its mouth. Its red scales shined brightly, reflecting an enormous amount of light, and its wings flexed.

The dragon held a scroll slightly larger than a man's arm in its mouth, and it lowered its head, handing the scroll to Anko. Anko opened the scroll and placed it on the ground. "You have to make a blood contract before you can use a summoning technique. Even if your sharingan _could_ copy techniques, you wouldn't be able to copy a summon."

Itachi nodded, knowing full well his sharingan couldn't even copy taijutsu. That had been one of the defects of cloning. His sharingan wasn't near the level Sasuke's or Itachi's had been at. He lost the sharingan's main ability, copying techniques, along with a lot of its genjutsu properties. He could still track even the fastest movements with it, could use very limited genjutsu with it, and he could reflect genjutsu back on it's user if someone tried to use it on him. Kakashi, however, had hinted that he hadn't unlocked the sharingan's true power yet.

Kakashi wasn't one to talk about the sharingan's true power. Kakashi _did_ have the sharingan. But it had the same weaknesses as Itachi's. Through some sort of mutation, the original Kakashi's first descendants were able to use the sharingan, albeit a weakened version.

Itachi bit his thumb, as Anko had done a few minutes before, and signed his name on the scroll next to hers.

"Alright," Anko said with an evil glint in her eye, "let's get to work."

* * *

Hinata woke up around 7:00. She didn't wake up early like Itachi did. She had always wondered why Itachi had woken up so early, and Kabuto had once told her. 'Meditation' Kabuto had said. Hinata had understood from then on. Being Kakashi's "favorite" must have been stressful for him. Probably why he smoked too.

Hinata got dressed and brushed her hair. She stared at her pale eyes in the mirror for a moment before leaving her room. She headed to the training area to find someone to spar with. She wanted to be prepared for the Jonin exam.

As she reached the training area in the ANBU compound, she noticed that one of her new teammates, Gaara, was already there. Gaara stood in the training area manipulating sand out of his gourd. Hinata watched him for a moment, marveling at his technique. The sand spun around him, dancing through the air. As Gaara began to direct it with his hands, the speed at which the sand was moving increased.

Gaara must have sensed someone was watching him, because he turned his head in Hinata's direction. Hinata blushed at being found out, but she raised her courage and walked forward. "Good morning, Gaara-san," Hinata said, only slightly shyly. Gaara might've smiled, but Hinata hadn't become at reading expressions on Gaara's expressionless face yet.

"Good morning, Hinata-san," Gaara replied as the sand in the air retreated back into the gourd. "How did you sleep?"

Hinata smiled sweetly then said, "Oh, well enough, I suppose. Did you have fun last night at the restaurant?"

Gaara might've smiled again, then said, "Yes it was…pleasant."

They stood in silence for a moment, before Gaara asked, "Are you looking for someone to spar with?"

Hinata thought for a moment before saying, "I wouldn't want either one of us to get hurt."

Gaara definitely smiled this time, and it was a wry smile. "You don't have to worry about hurting me, and I definitely won't be able to hurt you using taijutsu."

"Well then, I guess it wouldn't hurt to spar with someone new," Hinata said, smiling.

* * *

Sakura was in the ANBU compound's library. There must have been thousands of books in this library, and at least a fourth of them were written about medical techniques. She couldn't wait to get started reading some of them.

Sakura ran her hands along a row of books, scanning the titles for something interesting that would help her teammates. She finally settled on a book: _Quick Application of Medical Techniques in Combat_.

Sakura sat down at a table in the library and began to read. She read for an hour or two, then checked the clock in the library. 9:00 AM. She should really get some breakfast before continuing her day.

Sakura got up to put her book back, mentally noting the location, then started to walk towards the door. The door opened before she reached it however, and Kabuto walked in. He didn't notice her until after he had closed the door. When he did notice Sakura, his face brightened and he smiled a little. "Good morning, Sakura-san. Can I ask what you were reading?"

Sakura returned his smile and said, "Good morning, Kabuto-san. I was just reading one of the medical books."

"Ahh, of course. It's interesting to have another medical ninja around."

"How do you mean, interesting?"

"I could never talk with Itachi or Hinata about my passion for the medical science. Talking about more complex functions of the body would have been like speaking Greek to them."

"Oh, I know what you mean. At least when Tsunade-sama trained me, I had someone to talk to about the medical sciences."

"Yes, it's refreshing having someone I can actually talk to about those sort of things. Take last night for example. You and I started talking about how much better of a medic you are than I am."

Sakura smiled. "I wouldn't say that, but thank you anyway."

Kabuto seemed to smile a tad bitterly before saying, "My own skills utilize medical ninjutsu in a more…offensive way."

Sakura noticed that Kabuto seemed a little upset. She didn't say anything, but let him continue. "When I started to learn medical ninjutsu, I thought I would be able to heal, and protect my friends. Now, I hurt more than I heal," Kabuto said. Then he added with a wry smile, "It's ironic isn't it?"

Sakura looked down for a moment, then said, "I think I know how you feel. If I had to use my medical ninjutsu for harming others, I…I would have trouble living with myself." Kabuto nodded solemnly. Sakura continued. "But what you've had to do, Kabuto-san, just keep in mind that you did it to protect your friends."

Kabuto digested that for a moment, then smiled a little. "Of course your right, Sakura-san. My family's safety goes above all else."

Sakura returned his smile, then asked, "Would you like to join me for breakfast, Kabuto-san?"

Kabuto answered, "Yes, I'd like that."

They started to leave the library, with Kabuto in the lead and Sakura following behind him. Kabuto turned his head back and asked, "So, have you figured out the layout of the compound yet?"

Sakura shook her head and said, "No. In fact, if you hadn't come along, I probably would've gotten lost."

Kabuto chuckled a bit, then said, "If you get lost, just call for an ANBU. They'll help you out. And don't listen to what Itachi says about them.

Sakura giggled and followed Kabuto.

* * *

Temari slept late that day. She didn't wake up until 10:00. As she woke up, she realized that arguing with Itachi must've taken more out of her than she realized. Of course, not many people could or would argue with Desert Rose Temari. Temari cringed and thought to herselft, _I hope he doesn't find out about that nickname. He'll probably know why they called me that. _

Temari groggily got out of bed and got dressed. She put up her hair in her customary four pigtails, grabbed her fan, and walked out of her room. She walked around the hallways for a few minutes before realizing that she was completely and utterly lost.

"Is anyone there?" She called out, hoping someone would hear her, but realizing it was pretty hopeless in a building this size.

She then heard a swish sound behind her and turned around to see Kakashi. "Oh, Kakashi-sensei," Temari said. "At least someone heard me."

Kakashi yawned under his mask and said sarcastically, "Sometimes, I wish my hearing wasn't keener than the average bear's. Follow me, Temari-chan," and began to walk with his hands in his pockets.

"How are you finding the compound so far?" Kakashi asked. Temari answered, "It's better than the compound in Suna, but the endless hallways and corridors are much more confusing."

Kakashi nodded. "Everyone has trouble finding their way around for the first few days. You'll eventually get used to it," Kakashi said reassuringly.

Temari seemed to struggle with whether she should ask a question or not, then finally asked anyway. "Kakashi-sensei, why is Itachi so…" Temari thought for a moment, groping for the right word.

"So himself?" Kakashi finished. Temari nodded. Kakashi sighed a little then said, "Because I taught him and because he's my favorite."

Temari took in the abstract answer for a moment, then came back with another question. "But, Hinata-chan and Kabuto-kun were also trained by you, and they didn't turn out like Itachi."

Kakashi might've smiled under his mask, but Temari wasn't good at reading expressions under masks. "They weren't my favorites," Kakashi said simply. Temari decided she'd ask Kabuto.

**To be continued

* * *

**

Alright, chapter 5! And I have good news. According to my stats, I think at least 3 people are reading all of the chapters. So, whoever you three people are, you have my sincere gratitude. As always please leave a review. This chapter took a little longer, since I had to run to the Wal-Mart in the STD capital of America. I'll probably have the next chapter up by tomorrow. And yes, it will actually be tomorrow, because it's only around 11:00 this time. And just for you three curious readers, in the next chapter, they team will find an "inventive" way of preparing for the Jonin Exam


	6. Preparation

Discaimer: I don't own Naruto: the series, the universe, or the characters.

**Preparation **

During the next month, everyone tried to prepare for the Jonin Exams in their own way. Itachi learned and practiced the Summoning Technique with Anko. Kabuto tried to increase the effectiveness of his medical techniques with Sakura's help. Sakura, in turn, asked for Kabuto's help in her taijutsu practice. Gaara worked on his taijutsu with Hinata, and Hinata learned how to overcome barriers. Literally. Kakashi taught Temari the wind sword technique, in case anyone ever got close to her, or she lost her fan.

All of the students ate together as well. By Kakashi's order, of course. 'Get to know each other better,' Kakashi had said. They certainly knew each other well enough at the end of the month. By the month's end, both of the teams stopped using suffix titles when talking to one another. Except for Itachi and Temari, of course. If anything, their "name-calling" escalated.

Temari had started calling Itachi Itachi-chan, claiming the –chan suffix could be used on boys as well. Itachi had then started calling Temari Subaku-hime, Desert Princess. Itachi claimed it was the perfect name for her, since she was from the desert and she acted like a princess. Temari had consequentially beat him with her fan.

While they ate their meals, the two teams often talked about their life before they had met their counterparts, telling amusing stories and tales of missions they'd been on before. A common topic was the trouble the Suna team had finding their way around the compound. The Konoha team would always laugh at the Suna team's various responses. "It's been a month, and you still can't find your way around?" Itachi had asked today at lunch, laughing.

"Maybe we should have mercy on them," Kabuto said with a grin.

"No, we can't do that, Kakashi told us to not tell them," Itachi answered.

"Just what are you two talking about?" Temari demanded.

Itachi grinned, then answered, "We're not supposed to tell you. Kakashi's orders."

"Since when do you listen to Kakashi-sensei's orders?" Temari asked suspiciously.

"His orders normally aren't this funny," Itachi said as he chuckled a little.

"Regardless of what the 'Secret of the Hallways' is, we'd better leave. Kakashi-sensei and Anko-sensei want to talk to us," Sakura said.

Their 'family' got up and started walking out of the compound's cafeteria, leaving their mess for the ANBU to clean up. By Itachi's suggestion, of course.

They started walking and reached the amphitheater after a couple of minutes. Kakashi and Anko were already there. Kakashi fixed his mask and Anko smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt. Itachi crimson eyes noticed the small details, and with a smile he asked, "Have you two been getting frisky?"

Anko blushed a little, and Kakashi's eyes flashed with anger and annoyance. Itachi chuckled and answered his own question, "I guess so."

Itachi took a seat on the front row of the amphitheater, one row down from Hinata, Gaara, Kabuto, and Sakura. Temari looked around, trying to decide whether to sit next to the main group or Itachi. Finally, she decided to sit next to Itachi, and he said, "Déjà vu. The last time you sat next to me in here, you nearly took off my head with your fan."

Temari gave him a slightly evil smile, and said, "If you'll be good, I won't have to, Itachi-chan."

Itachi would have responded in kind, but Kakashi started talking. "The Jonin Exam is coming up in a week. That's only seven more days. I hope you have most of your training is over and done with." Anko smiled triumphantly and said, "I hope most of your training was as productive as Itachi's." Kakashi seemed a little peeved when she said that, but quickly recovered and continued, "If you have any questions about the Jonin Exam, ask them now. I've been instructed to only answer yes or no questions." With that, Kakashi sat down in a chair on the stage of the amphitheater and leaned back, waiting for questions.

The family digested that for a moment, then Gaara asked, "Will there be a written test in the Jonin exam?"

"I can't answer that." Kakashi said.

Itachi pulled out a cigarette and lit it, then lifted it to his mouth. He looked at Anko, and asked, "Can _you_ answer the question, Anko-sensei?" Anko looked at him in surprise for a moment then smiled and said, "Good idea, but I've been instructed the same as Kakashi."

Itachi took a long drag from the cigarette and then exhaled. All of his family was watching him, waiting for him to say something. "Can you answer any questions about the details of the Jonin exams?" Itachi finally asked. Kakashi smiled under his mask. "No," he said simply.

The brothers and sisters were dismayed and shocked. "So…, this was all just a way to waste our time?" Sakura asked incredulously. Kakashi thought about his answer for a moment before saying, "Sort of."

Kabuto looked at Itachi. Itachi was taking long deep drags on the cigarette and leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed. A moment later, he exhaled a large amount of smoke. Kabuto recognized what Itachi was doing right away. Itachi was thinking. Hard.

After the rest of the family had asked a few more pointless questions, Itachi sat up in his chair and took the cigarette out of his mouth. "Are there documents in the Hokage's office about the details of the exam?" Kakashi smiled again. This was why Itachi was his favorite. "Yes," Kakashi answered.

Itachi smiled. He'd figured it out. "Are there more than 30 documents about the details of the exam in the Hokage's office?" Kakashi kept smiling. "Yes," Kakashi answered.

"Is there going to be increased ANBU security in the Hokage's office tonight?" Itachi asked. "Yes," Kakashi answered. "One final question," Itachi said. "Is stealing documents about the details of the exam part of the exam?"

"I can't answer that," Kakashi said.

Itachi thought for a moment, then addressed his family. "All I got from those questions is that we can go steal some documents pertaining to the details of the exam from the Hokage's office."

Hinata gasped and said, "We can't do that, it'd be like we were cheating."

Itachi looked at Hinata's pale eyes with his crimson eyes and said, "Shinobi don't play fair. From this Q and A session, I think the proctors want us to go steal these documents as part of the test."

Gaara nodded his head and said, "I think you're right, but the Hokage's office has increased ANBU security tonight. How many people do they usually have on security?"

"The Hokage's office usually has around four ANBU guards," Kabuto answered.

"Then we'd have to be able to fight our way past possibly double or more that number," Sakura said grimly.

"We don't even know if we're supposed to steal the documents as a part of the test," Temari argued. "Maybe we should ask more questions before doing anything rash."

Itachi turned towards Kakashi, and said, "I don't really think it will help, but it certainly won't hurt. Are the documents in plain view in the Hokage's office?"

Kakashi answered, "Yes."

"See, it's almost like they're asking us to take them. Even if they didn't want us to steal the documents, we can't pass up a chance like this to gather information. Even if it is cheating, like I said, shinobi don't play fair and don't play by the rules," Itachi said.

The rest of the family digested this new information for a moment before Kabuto said, "Let's put it to a vote. All in favor, raise your hand." Gaara, Itachi, Kabuto, Temari, and Sakura immediately raised their hands, and Hinata thought for a moment longer before raising her hand as well. "It's unanimous then," Kabuto said, then continued, "Now if you think Itachi should lead this mission, raise your hand." Everyone raised their hand except Itachi. Itachi merely took another drag on his cigarette.

"I guess I'm the leader," Itachi said after a few moments. He thought for a moment before saying, "I've got a plan. Kabuto, you and I will be the ones to actually go in the Hokage's office. Hinata, I'd take you, but more people on this mission will just make things more difficult. The rest of you," Itachi said, motioning towards the Suna team. "Your techniques aren't… sneaky enough for this mission."

Itachi looked towards Temari, and said, "Temari, get into your sleeping clothes, and make sure it's something sort of skimpy." Temari looked at him as if he were crazy for a minute then said, "Why would I do that?"

Itachi smiled and said, "All a part of the plan."

* * *

Temari looked through the drawers in her room, trying to find an outfit that would do for the plan. Itachi was there as well, also going through some of her drawers. Temari normally would have throttled him, but it was all for the good of the team, so she restrained herself. Barely. Especially when Itachi stumbled across her underwear drawer.

"You know, it's not everyday that a girl lets me go on a panty-raid in her room while she's watching," Itachi said, smirking. Temari had to check her hand to see if it was on her fan yet.

Itachi finally found what he was looking for and tossed Temari a spaghetti strap tank top, that only went down to her mid-stomach. She looked at him as if he were stupid, and doubled the look when he tossed her a pair of sleep shorts that only went to her mid-thigh. "Are you out of your mind?!? I barely wear these things when I'm alone. And your asking me to go out in public with them on?" Temari asked, beside herself at having to expose so much of her body.

"It's not really public," Itachi argued. "It's just the hall, in front of two ANBU. You can manage wearing them for ten minutes." Temari huffed, anger evident on her face. "Why can't you use Sakura or Hinata for this job?" she asked. "Hinata has lived here her whole life. The ANBU know she wouldn't get lost. Sakura, while I'm sure she would look good in these clothes, doesn't have as much cleavage as you." Temari looked downwards at her chest, and said, "I'll take that as a compliment. But I get to choose the bottoms." She grabbed some pajama pants out of her drawer and discarded the shorts. She went into the bathroom to change and Itachi leaned against the wall while he waited.

"You know," Itachi said, "there was another reason I chose you for this…assignment." Temari perked up her ears in the bathroom and said, "What was that?" "I wanted to see how much cleavage the Subaku-hime had," Itachi smirked as he answered and waited for her reply.

Temari didn't say anything for a minute, then said, "After these exams, I'm going to kill you."

Itachi chuckled outside the bathroom.

* * *

Temari opened her door and looked down the hallway. No ANBU…yet. Temari walked out of her door, showing a considerable amount of cleavage, per Itachi's plan. She was starting to think this part of the plan was created just so he could see her cleavage. She began walking in her pajama clothes and just kept walking for several minutes, thinking to herself. _If I kill him before the exam, we'll be missing a teammate. So, I'll wait until after the exam. Then I'll beat him so hard his head pops off. _

Temari walked around for a few more minutes, then doing as the plan directed, went down and screamed, feigning a twisted ankle. "Help!" Temari called through the hallway. After a few more calls, an ANBU arrived. "I got lost and twisted my ankle," Temari said through gritted teeth. The ANBU examined her outfit for a moment, then tried to help her up. She yelped in supposed pain when he did, then suggested, "Maybe you should call another ANBU to help." The ANBU followed her advice, and said, "I'll be back in a minute," and disappeared.

The ANBU returned after minute with another ANBU trailing after him. They both bent down to help her up and when they did, Itachi and Kabuto appeared out of the shadows and each attacked one of the ANBUs. Itachi slammed his foot into the face of one of the ANBUs. Kabuto's hands glowed blue as he activated a chakra scalpel and hit the back of the ANBU's head. The ANBU fainted on the ground, unconscious. Itachi punched his ANBU in the head again, until it appeared the ANBU was unconscious. Itachi turned around and helped Temari up, and said, "See? They were so distracted by your cleavage, they didn't even see us coming." Temari scowled, and said, "I still didn't like the plan." Itachi smiled and said, "It all worked out in the end." He was rather surprised when Temari pushed him out of the way, and kicked the previously prone ANBU, who had risen to his feet. Temari kicked him in his stomach and then kicked his head with her other foot.

Itachi looked at the now unconscious ANBU and said, "Nice work. Your part is done now. You can change into something a little less…revealing." With that, Itachi and Kabuto escorted Temari back into her room, stripped the passed out ANBU down to their boxers, then changed into the ANBUs' outfits. They left the compound and headed towards the Hokage mansion.

* * *

When they reached the Hokage mansion, Hinata was already there, scouting out the place with her Byakugan. Itachi jumped down next to her and said, "How many?"

"8 ANBU by my count. Sakura was right about the number. No one team would be stupid enough to take them all on," Hinata answered. Unlike Itachi's sharingan, Hinata's Byakugan, was fully powered. She could see up to 400 meters away using her doujustu.

"Good thing we don't intend to take them on," Kabuto said with a sly grin.

Itachi looked towards Kabuto and asked, "You can alter their memories using your medical techniques, right?" Kabuto nodded.

"Alright then," Itachi said. "Let's get started. Tell us when two guards get close enough, Hinata."

After a few minutes, two guards came to about 20 feet away from their current location. "Now," Hinata whispered, and Kabuto and Itachi donned the ANBU masks and started running towards the two ANBU guards. The guards noticed them, drew their katanas, and started running towards Itachi and Kabuto.

Itachi drew his own sword and slashed at the nearest guard, who raised his own katana to block. The swords clashed and the ring of the blades sounded very loud to Itachi. Itachi had to end this quickly. "Chidori current," He said, and electricity encircled himself and his sword. The electricity from his attack racked against the guards body and the electricity off of Itachi's sword traveled down the metal of the guard's own sword, giving him a double dose of Itachi's attack. The guard fell over, a small amount of smoke rising off of him, unconscious.

Kabuto gathered chakra in his hands and sharpened it, making a chakra scalpel. He ran towards his opponent, slashing at the man, and dodging the guard's katana. One of his hands connected with the guard's leg, and he severed the muscle. The guard went down, betrayed by his now useless leg. Before the guard could attack from his prone position, however, Kabuto pressed one of his scalpels to the back of the man's head, and stopped the blood flow to the guard's brain until the man passed out.

Itachi and Kabuto grabbed the masks off the guards and exchanged them with their own masks. Donning their new masks, they ran off towards the mansion. Itachi and Kabuto came to the door of the mansion and went inside. They walked until for a few minutes before encountering any other ANBU. The ANBUs, thinking Itachi and Kabuto were some of there own, merely nodded and walked past them. Itachi and Kabuto came to the Hokage's office and opened the door, expecting to find the documents quickly.

Itachi scanned the dark room and saw some thirty odd folders on the large desk. He picked up a folder and leafed through the contents. This was definitely what they were looking for. Itachi grabbed two folders and handed one to Kabuto. Just in case.

"We should destroy the rest," Itachi said. Kabuto agreed saying, "It will give us an advantage, if any of the other teams figure out where to find the information. We'll be the only ones who know any details about the exam." Itachi nodded and took out the lighter he used to light his cigarettes. He motioned to Kabuto and said, "Keep watch at the door." Kabuto went to the door and stuck his head out. Itachi put the folders on the floor and lit them up. They burned fairly easily, and before long, all that was left was some ash on the floor.

"Time to leave," Itachi said and headed towards the window. He unfastened the windo and jumped to the ground, Kabuto right behind him. They couldn't let any of the ANBU guards see them with these folders. They quickly scanned the area, then made their way back to where Hinata was.

"Let's go," Itachi said, and they took off, jumping through the forest on the path back to the compound. Victory was theirs this night.

**To be continued**

* * *

Well that's chapter 6 for you. I kind of like how Itachi…let's say "thinks outside the box" because cheating sounds negative. As always please leave a review, and I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I definitely enjoyed writing this one. There was a little action this time, but trust me, I'll make the action scenes better. 


	7. The Jonin Exam

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Naruto characters, the series, or the universe.

The Jonin Exams 

After Kabuto, Itachi, and Hinata got back to the ANBU compound, Itachi and Kabuto quickly redressed the ANBU and Kabuto proceeded to wipe their memories using his medical techniques.

After Itachi and Kabuto got dressed in their own clothes, they met with the rest of their family in the compound's amphitheater. The rest of the family was waiting for them with anxious looks on their face. Itachi put both of the folders on the table.

Kakashi and Anko, still sitting in the same spot as before, looked on with slightly amused expressions.

Itachi began to go through one of the folders and Gaara began to go through the other one. The others crowded around them and tried to read over their shoulders.

Itachi started to read aloud, "The first part of the Jonin Exam will be a written test. The second part of the exam will be a race to finish type thing. We'll be given two scrolls and we'll have to find the other two scrolls from other teams. The first four teams to reach the destination with all four scrolls will be the winner. The destination is the tower on the eastern side of the 57th training field." Itachi's eyes widened as he read the last part.

"Great," Kabuto muttered. "They had to pick that training field."

"What's so bad about this training field?" Temari asked.

"They call it the Forest of the Reaper," Hinata answered. "Supposedly, if you stay in the forest for 3 days or more, the Reaper will devour you."

"In reality," Itachi said, "It's a forest crawling with giant bugs, tigers, snakes, you name it. It's also extremely hard to traverse, by ground or by hopping through trees."

"If there's a chance we'll be attacked, we should strengthen our numbers once we're in the forest," Gaara said. He pulled a map of the forest out of a folder and put it on the table, pointing to a river. "We should meet somewhere, like here."

"Agreed," said Sakura. "That way, we'd double our offense and defense. I doubt that any of the other teams would team up as well, so we'd have an advantage."

"That seems a little unfair, but we need to take every advantage we can get," Temari said.

Itachi nodded and kept reading. "The third part of the test will be a tournament style fight between contestants. Contestants will be judged on power of techniques, number and diversity of techniques, and strategic reasoning. Sounds like we could end up fighting each other."

Temari spoke up and said, "But, based on what you just read, we can't hold back, even if we fight each other. We have to show that we're Jonin level."

Itachi nodded, then seemed to think for a moment before scowling. He turned towards Kakashi and demanded, "These documents aren't telling us all of the details are they?"

Kakashi smiled under his mask, then said, "No, they're not."

The family sat in shock for a moment. Several mouths fell open. Then Temari said, "Are you kidding me?!"

Itachi took out a cigarette and lit up, taking a really long drag. He exhaled after a few moments, then said, "Of course. The proctors wanted to make sure that even if someone stole the documents, they wouldn't know every little detail. They'd only think that they knew everything. That way, when an unexpected detail was announced, the surprise and shock on the document stealers' faces would have betrayed them."

"So now," Sakura said, "the only thing we know is that we can pretty much expect anything."

"Exactly," Kakashi said as he cut in. "I'm proud of you guys. You figured it out. You did what was necessary to gain as much information as you could, and now, you know a little bit more than you did. You only made one mistake."

Itachi looked surprised and asked, "What do you mean?"

"The ANBU masks," Kakashi said.

"What about them?" Kabuto asked, now concerned.

"When you ambushed the ANBU in this building, you took their masks. But when you came back, you were carrying different masks. From the ANBU you ambushed at the Hokage's mansion."

Itachi's cigarette fell out of his mouth. Then he scowled and muttered, "Crap."

Kakashi continued. "If the ANBU from this building report that their masks have been somehow changed, there would be suspicion on all of you."

"Wait a minute," Temari said, cutting in. "How did you know about any of this? You and Anko stayed in this room the whole time."

"I have my ways of keeping tabs on all of you," Kakashi said simply. "All of you had better get some sleep. It's getting late."

The family looked at the clock on the wall. 2:00 AM. Everyone went to their rooms and began to fall to sleep, the victorious feeling they had felt half an hour ago gone.

* * *

By the next morning, Itachi was leaning against the wall in the training area. He had already taking another drag on his cigarette. He absent-mindedly checked how many cigarettes were in his pack. Only three left. He'd have to get a new pack soon. He exhaled, blowing out smoke. His crimson eyes looked out over the training area, then checked his watch. 8:00 AM.

He took another drag on his cigarette then nearly choked when Temari came up behind him and said, "Good morning, Itachi-chan."

Itachi started a bout of fitful coughing, smoke coming out of his nose and mouth while he did so. He glowered at Temari, who was now practically rolling on the ground with howling laughter.

Itachi tried to regain his former composure, but it was difficult to do with Temari guffawing next to him. Temari finally stopped laughing after what seemed like an eternity to Itachi. She looked at Itachi, who was now blushing. She started giggling at the sight of his blush.

After Temari finally composed herself, Itachi said, "What can I help you with, Subaku-hime?"

Temari looked at him oddly for a moment, then said, "What? I can't just stop by to say hello to my favorite Itachi-chan?"

Itachi's crimson eyes showed he was now in a playful mood, "So you know more than one Itachi, huh? If he's anything like me I'd like to meet him."

Temari's face heated up a little, but it wasn't noticeable. Then she said, "Oh he's nothing like you. He's actually nice, much stronger than you, and of course he doesn't smoke either."

"Sounds like your dream guy," Itachi speculated.

"I like him a lot more than you," Temari teased.

"Sounds like Kakashi, except for the nice part, that is," Itachi said.

"Oh," Temari said suddenly. "You're admitting that Kakashi is stronger than you? You must've matured recently."

"Heh, I've always known that Kakashi is stronger than I am. Honestly, I don't know why he isn't the Hokage yet." Itachi took another drag on his cigarette, then exhaled the smoke in Temari's face. "Payback," he said, smirking.

Temari coughed a bit. Her eyes watered and she reached for her fan. She swung the fan and connected with Itachi's back, eliciting a sudden yell of pain from him.

Itachi rubbed his back and venomously said, "One day, I'll break that fan. Then you won't have anything to hit me with."

"It's your fault," Temari retorted. "If you hadn't blown smoke in my face, I wouldn't have had to beat the crap out of you." There was silence for a moment, then Temari looked at Itachi, looking as if she were thinking about asking something. Finally, she asked her question, "Why do you have your sharingan activated all of the time?" The curiosity was plain on her face.

Itachi examined her for a moment, trying to figure out why she was asking. He answered after a moment, saying, "When I was a kid, there was something that happened that I could have prevented if I'd had my sharingan. That's why I always keep it on. Just in case something like that ever happens again."

Temari didn't ask anymore. She could see that there was pain on Itachi's face at recalling the memory.

* * *

During the next week, the Family tried to rest up. They went over all the data from the documents and made sure that everyone understood the plan. They didn't do much training, but tried to take it easy, so they could be refreshed when the time came. When the day of the Jonin exam finally came, they were ready.

The Family, Anko, and Kakashi made their way towards the testing building. When they arrived and turned in their registration papers, there were already a great deal of shinobi from Konoha, Suna, and a slew of other villages there. Kakashi and Anko said their farewells, and Kakashi pulled Itachi aside for a moment, then said, "Don't do anything stupid." Itachi rolled his crimson eyes, then rejoined his family. Sakura and Temari overheard what Kakashi said, and asked Kabuto what he had meant by it. Kabuto hesitated then said, "Itachi doesn't really…get along with other shinobi."

Their family waited for the first proctor to tell everyone about the exam. Kabuto talked to another team about how long they could expect to wait. The response was 'possibly another hour.' Itachi groaned and took out a cigarette and lit up. They all sat down, preparing for a long wait.

"Don't look now," Gaara whispered, "but we're getting some unwanted attention." Everyone else turned and looked around. There were at least 30 pairs of eyes looking at them. "I noticed it too, but I hoped it was just curiosity," Itachi said.

Itachi suddenly stood up and addressed everyone looking at them. "What? Haven't any of you guys ever seen someone smoke before?" Kabuto might've cursed under his breath, but no one heard him. Hinata had an anxious look on her face, but she didn't say anything. Sakura, Temari, and Gaara just stared at Itachi, curiosity on their faces.

"Even if you haven't seen anyone smoke before, that's no reason for you to stare so rudely," Itachi said. Itachi's statement seemed to anger some of the shinobi watching them, and one of them got up to address Itachi. He was a large man from the Village Hidden in the Rain. He had brown hair and dark tan skin. He was dressed in Rain's usual attire, complete with umbrellas. He stalked over to the family, flanked by his own team, and two other teams from Hidden Rain.

He addressed Itachi directly, "For someone who has such a big mouth, you have some pretty friends." The guy said, referring the girls of the family. Itachi responded in kind, saying, "For someone who's stupid enough to talk to me like that, you have an awful lot of followers."

"Itachi, don't do this," Kabuto warned, but Itachi didn't listen. One of the Rain followers said to their leader, "Kagero, he doesn't know you are. Maybe you should go easy on him." Kagero didn't hear and merely motioned all his followers back. Itachi turned his head to his family and said, "Get back." Hinata started to say something, but Itachi held out his arm to silence her. The Family reluctantly scooted back.

All eyes were now on Itachi and Kagero. Kagero cracked his knuckles and said, "I'm going to enjoy this. I'm going to beat you the old fashioned way." Itachi merely took his cigarette out of his mouth. He stared at Kagero with his crimson eyes.

Kagero moved first, letting out a battle cry and punching at Itachi's head. Itachi easily avoided the punch and kept dodging. Kagero kept swinging at Itachi and Itachi merely avoided and blocked all his punches. Itachi grabbed Kagero's hand in the middle of one punch and pulled Kagero's arm behind his back, into a rather painful position. Kagero cursed and Itachi twisted Kagero's arm harder, causing him to cry out in pain. Itachi said, "You shouldn't say ugly words like that in front of such pretty ladies. And you shouldn't try to fight me. Ever."

A metal chink sound broke the silence after Itachi was done talking. Itachi turned around and saw one of the Rain ninjas draw a kunai and run towards him. He would have reacted and kicked the ninja, but sand suddenly blocked the Rain ninja's kunai. The Rain ninja looked at the sand in surprise. Gaara stared at the ninja and said, "Don't try to hurt my brother. Ever." Itachi gave a cocky smile towards Gaara and Gaara gave one of his little smiles in return.

"Hey! No fighting!" A voice suddenly said. Everyone turned to see that the proctors had arrived.

* * *

I hate myself for making the first part of the exam a written test. But I honestly couldn't think of anything else for the first part. Oh well. At least I have my "unexpected details." There won't be anymore updates for a couple of days at least. I'm going to be gone to my grandmother's house for a while. And of course, they don't have any Internet whatsoever. I'm also a little depressed only two different people have reviewed so far. But I'll live. Thanks a lot to Jfalcon and Lenne Vampire for reviewing though. 


	8. The Written Exam

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Not the series, the universe, or the characters.

**The Written Exam**

Itachi reluctantly let go of Kagero's arm and the two sides backed away from each other.

"Now if you're all done fighting," The head proctor said, "we'll continue."

"My name is Mikuzi. I am the head proctor of this part of the exam," the proctor said. Mikuzi had long dark brown hair that went down his back and several scars across his face. He also had red tattoos on both cheeks. His canines were enlarged, and he had a large face. "Please follow me."

Mikuzi lead all of the entries to a classroom with several long desks. The room had multiple levels of the floor, with the highest level being in the back, and the lowest being the place where the teacher would stand. That way, everyone would be able to see the teacher. Each entry was assigned a number and a seat based on that number. The result was that all the teams weren't seated anywhere close to each other.

"As most of you know," Mukuzi said, standing in front of a large chalkboard at the bottom of the classroom, "You will have one hour and thirty minutes to complete this test. We will use a point deduction system of scoring your tests. But this test won't be like the test you took when you were taking the Chunin Exam. We won't pass you based on your answer to the tenth question. This time your tests will be actually scored based on how many questions you answered correctly."

There were whisperings around the classroom, not to mention several gasps of surprise.

Mikuzi continued, ignoring the commotion. "Around you are stationed several Jonins. If they see you cheat even once, you and your team will be dismissed. If one of your teammates does not pass the test, all of you will be dismissed." The Jonins started to hand out the tests. All of the entries quieted down, aware that the test had begun.

Itachi was handed his test and he briefly looked over the questions. _Obviously_, he thought, _that thing about cheating even once was the unexpected detail_. The more Itachi looked over the questions, the more apparent it became that he would have to cheat if he wanted to pass. Itachi sighed inwardly and wondered if the Jonins would care if he got out a cigarette. He began looking around, wondering where he could get the answers from. A guy in a couple of rows in front of him was cranking through this thing. He watched the man's pencil, using the Sharingan to track the pencil's movements. He began to move his pencil the same way as the man's pencil. It wasn't easy; the guy was writing fast. But after about 20 minutes, he had all of the answers down. Itachi really didn't know if they were correct or not, but it was the best he had.

Itachi thought about who in his family would be having trouble with this test. Hinata could use her Byakugan to easily find the answers to the test. Gaara could use his Eye of Sand technique to find the answers. Sakura was actually smart enough to answer the questions on her own. That left Temari and Kabuto. They were probably having trouble. Itachi looked around for Kabuto and found Kabuto looking straight at him, waiting. They'd done this bit before.

Itachi concentrated, then called upon the genjutsu properties of his Sharingan. The genjutsu of his Sharingan was limited, but useable. He stared into Kabuto's eyes, and Kabuto looked at his paper and started writing.

Itachi looked towards Temari who had seen what had just happened between Itachi and Kabuto. Itachi caught Temari's eye and used the same genjutsu that he had on Kabuto. Itachi then sat back and relaxed, waiting for the test to come to a close.

* * *

When Hinata first received her test, she looked at the questions, then came to a quick conclusion_. Itachi was right_, she thought, _Shinobi didn't play by the rules. This test is proof._ She activated her Byakugan, then looked around the room for the answers. It wasn't very difficult. Soon enough she had all of the answers. She looked towards Itachi and saw him leaning back, waiting for the test to be over. Hinata looked towards Gaara who was staring at her. She understood what Gaara wanted her to do. She lied her head down on her arms, covering her test paper with her long hair and arms, but leaving a space open above the test paper.

* * *

Gaara saw that Hinata understood and she seemingly lied her head down. _Perfect_, Gaara thought. He made a few quick hand signs under the table, then focused on moving a small amount of sand towards Hinata. He moved the sand through Hinata's hair. Then making sure no sand was in Hinata's eyes, he closed his eyes and formed an eyeball out of sand. It was perfectly covered by Hinata's arms and hair. The eyeball looked over Hinata's test while Gaara wrote down the answers. After a few minutes, Gaara was done, and he made the eyeball sand again and pulled the sand back to himself, making sure he didn't leave any sand in Hinata's dark hair.

* * *

Sakura looked at her test paper and began writing. The test was difficult, but she knew the answers. She began to crank through the test. After around 40 minutes, she was done. She looked around and saw that every member of her family was done as well. Sakura felt relieved and sighed. _One obstacle overcome_, she thought.

* * *

Kabuto waited for Itachi too finally turn around and face him. After about 25 minutes, Itachi finally looked at Kabuto and used a genjutsu. The answers suddenly appeared on Kabuto's paper, but the marks were only illusions. In reality there really weren't any marks on the paper. So Kabuto started to write, tracing the illusionary marks on his paper. When he was done, there would be real marks on the paper. He looked at Temari for a moment. Kabuto hoped Temari would understand what to do.

* * *

Temari saw the scene between Kabuto and Itachi, and she wondered, _What the heck are they doing?_ She understood a moment later when Itachi turned his crimson gaze to her. She stared into Itachi's eyes for a moment, then looked at her paper. The answers were marked very clearly. But she understood what Itachi had done. _The answers on my paper now are just illusions. So if I trace all of the marks, then the answers should be on my paper in reality. _Temari began to write on her paper.

* * *

During the test, Jonins would seemingly randomly accuse people of cheating. If their were any objections, they were quickly silenced. Roughly a fourth of the contestants were accused of cheating and dismissed. After an hour and a half were up, Mikuzi called for the test to be over. "It will take a day to grade all of your tests. At this time tomorrow, report back to this room and those who passed the test will go on to the next part of the exam." With that, all the remaining teams were dismissed.

* * *

"The test was harder than I thought it would be," Sakura said. The Family was now back at the compound, relaxing after the first part of the exam. 

"You were the only one of us who didn't cheat," Kabuto said. "That test was way above the rest of our abilities." The Family was in the cafeteria part of the compound. Kakashi and Anko were also there, listening in on what their students had to say about the test.

"How do you think you did?" Kakashi asked.

Itachi shrugged and said, "If the guy I was cheating off of was right, then Temari, Kabuto, and I got it right."

Hinata nodded and said, "It's the same with me and Gaara.

Kakashi nodded and said, "I hope you were cheating off one of the Jonins." When the Family looked at him funny, he went on to explain. "There were three Jonins in the room pretending to take the test. They knew all of the correct answers."

"Of course," Temari said, realization hitting her. "We had to have someone to get our answers from."

"Exactly," Anko said, confirming what Temari said. "You guys have the rest of the day off. We won't do any training since you have the hard part tomorrow. The Forest of the Reaper that is."

Anko and Kakashi walked away, heading back to the endless hallways and corridors of the compound. _Probably to have some 'fun'_ Itachi thought. Kabuto got up and said, "Hey Sakura, want to get something to eat?"

Sakura's face brightened, and she said, "Sure, Kabuto."

Hinata looked at Gaara and blushed, but Gaara spoke for her. "Kabuto, Sakura. Do you mind if we come with you?"

"Of course not. Right, Sakura?" Kabuto said.

Sakura replied with a smile on her face, "Yeah, that would be fun. Let's go."

The four of them started to hurriedly leave, almost running. Temari got up and said, "Wait, can I come?" But the four were already gone down one of the endless hallways. Temari sighed and looked at Itachi, then said, "How come I always get left with the baka?"

* * *

Already outside the complex, the four started walking towards their favorite restaurant. Gaara glanced at Kabuto and asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea?" 

Kabuto smiled and said, "Itachi isn't the only one who can think outside the box. If we leave them together enough, they'll eventually get along. Maybe something even better will happen."

Next to Kabuto, Sakura voiced her own feelings. "But I think Temari is getting upset that we keep leaving her behind."

Hinata nodded her accord, and said, "She is starting to look angry with us. I hope we aren't hurting her feelings."

Kabuto said, "Temari is strong. And it's not like we're cutting her out of our lives. She won't let this keep her down."

Sakura nodded then said, "I think our plan might be working. Did you see the way Itachi looked at Temari they other day?"

The conversation continued that way until the group reached the restaurant.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the compound… 

Itachi stared at Temari for a moment before saying, "At least you won't ruin their double date this way."

Temari sat back down and folded her arms across her chest. "They wouldn't leave me behind for that reason, baka. There must be some ulterior motive."

Itachi smirked at her, then said, "You are starting to sound paranoid. Or just jealous."

Temari gave him an are-you-stupid look then said, "Why would I be jealous of them, baka?"

Itachi gave her a knowing look, then answered, "Because they have someone and you don't. I'm a little jealous myself." Itachi took out a cigarette and lit up, taking a small drag. Temari was thinking about what Itachi had said. Itachi had come to recognize Temari's various expressions. She had on her I'm-thinking-really-hard face right now. Itachi thought she looked kind of cute when she didn't act like she knew everything.

Temari was still thinking when Itachi said, "Well, since you can't stand not going to a restaurant when everyone else does, I guess I can take you out somewhere. But you are paying for your own food if you get lobster again."

Temari looked up from her contemplation. She gave a small smile and said, "Fine. Since you're begging me to go on a date with me, I guess I can take pity on you, Itachi-chan."

Itachi rolled his crimson eyes, and got up, starting to walk down one of the compound's hallways. Temari got up from her seat and began to walk with him. Itachi glanced back to Temari and asked, "You guys from Suna are still getting lost, aren't you?" Temari looked startled he had asked the question, then said, "Yeah. We just can't seem to find our way around." Itachi chuckled and said, "You'd better figure it out soon."

They exited the compound. It was already dark outside. The sun was just barely visible behind the horizon. They walked until they reached Konoha, then made their way towards the restaurant they'd eaten at before.

Itachi pushed the restaurants door open and Temari followed him in. Temari picked a booth that had a good view of the village lights. Even though it was dark, there were still many people shuffling around outside the restaurant. They looked over their menus and both ordered.

"At least you didn't order lobster this time," Itachi muttered.

"Ohh," Temari said, with her evil smirk. "Would you have paid for it, contrary to what you said at the compound?"

"No," Itachi answered coolly. "I definitely would have made you pay for the lobster. My wallet can't take another hit like that."

"Yeah right," Temari countered. "You once told me you have enough money saved up to buy a house."

"But I still need the money," Itachi remarked, adamant in his decision. "I'm saving my money for…something important."

"Like what, a rainy day?" Temari retorted. The waiter returned with their meals. They thanked him and began to eat. During their meal, Temari suddenly got a great idea. "I know what you can do to burn some money."

"This ought to be good," Itachi said as he took a bite of his fish.

Temari drank some of her tea and said, "No, really. You should buy some new outfits. I'm getting tired of seeing you in the same old clothes."

Itachi looked at her incredulously. "You want me to buy new clothes because you are tired of seeing me in my current clothes. You must be out of your mind." They finished eating and Itachi brought out his wallet to pay. "Besides," he remarked, "I've barely got enough in here to pay for eating out."

Temari eyed him suspiciously, then let him pay. But before Itachi could put his wallet back in his pocket, Temari, using no grace whatsoever, knocked Itachi onto the ground and snatched his wallet.

Itachi almost cursed. "What the crap are you doing?" he said as he pushed himself off the ground. Temari ignored him, and looked through his wallet. Her eyes widened as she saw the amount of ryo in his wallet. "You have enough to pay for 5 more dinners," she shouted accusingly, "with lobster!"

Itachi rolled his crimson eyes and said, "I knew you'd leave me alone if you didn't think I had any money."

Temari narrowed her eyes and said, "Well now we're going shopping for new clothes."

Itachi shook his head. "No way, I like my clothes just the way they are."

Temari then smiled her evil smile, and said, "Well then, either _we _go shopping for _you_, or _I_ go shopping for _me_. What's it going to be, baka?"

Itachi sighed and took out a cigarette and lit up. "Fine. You're such a pain in the neck."

Temari smiled and said, "As long as I'm not a pain in your butt."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Temari and Itachi were at one of Konoha's ninja clothes stores. Ninja-mart the sign said. Temari was looking at several outfits while Itachi smoked. 

"I still haven't gotten my wallet back," Itachi complained.

"If I gave your wallet back, you would just run off," Temari said while examining one outfit. She picked the outfit up and shoved it into Itachi's arms and said, "Try this on." Itachi ambled over to the changing rooms, and a minute later, came out dressed in a different outfit.

"I like it on you. It looks good." Temari said. Itachi muttered, "Gee, thanks a lot," under his breath. (cough Neji's shippuden outfit, except the shirt and pants are black cough)

Temari picked up 6 more of the exact same outfit, then said to the cashier, "We want all of these, including the one he's wearing." Itachi's eyes bugged out, but Temari held up his wallet and said, "You can afford it."

Temari paid for all the clothes with Itachi's money, then handed back the empty wallet to him and pushed all six outfits in his hands. Itachi, barely holding back anger, said, "The next time we do anything, you are paying."

Temari merely smiled and tried to look innocent of any crime. "But you bought all these clothes with your money. Itachi just sighed and took a long drag on his cigarette, trying to calm down.

They reached the compound after a little while, and Itachi lead Temari to their rooms. Temari looked back towards him and smiled, saying, "Good night Itachi-chan." Then she went inside her room.

Itachi opened his own door, and thought, _She's won this round, but I'll get her back_, as he hung his new clothes in his closet. _Might as well use these clothes._

**To be continued**

_

* * *

_

I didn't really like this chapter too much. Not the beginning anyway. Oh well, on to bigger and better things. Like the Forest of the Reaper. Won't that be fun? Please leave a review for me. My humble thanks to Lenne Vampire and JFalcon for reviewing.

Here's the fun fact of the day: Initially, I had a lot of trouble deciding what the skills and techniques of the main protagonist should be, and who he should be cloned from. I briefly thought about using Shikamaru, but I needed Shikamaru for another part of the story. For a long time, I thought about using a combination of Itachi and Kimimaro. I still think that would have been really cool. But finally I decided on Itachi and Sasuke.

I should have a new update by tomorrow, for those who are reading. Happy Holidays!


	9. Forest of the Reaper

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Don't own the series, characters, or universe.

**Forest of the Reaper**

The Family awoke rested in the morning. After they ate breakfast, the Family, Anko, and Kakashi all headed towards the former testing room. When they arrived at the testing room, there were hardly any other shinobi there.

"We must be early," Hinata said, looking at the sparsely populated room.

"That just means that you get your results faster," Mikuzi said as he walked up to them. "I have good news. All of you officially pass the written exam. You can now head to the Forest of the Reaper."

Most of the Family smiled and started cheering, glad that at least one part of the exam was over and done with. They left the testing room and began to walk towards the Forest of the Reaper.

* * *

When the Family reached the forest, the next test proctor was already waiting for early birds. The proctor was a man of average height, wearing normal Jonin attire. He wore bandages over his head and eyes however, and wore his forehead protector around his neck. He walked towards the Family, and said, "Hello. My name is Kakusho. I am the proctor for this part of the exam."

The Family mumbled various greetings. Kakusho continued, "Before the next part of the exam, we need you to sign these wavers."

Itachi looked over the papers and said, "So this basically excuses Konoha in case any of us die or get injured?"

Kakusho nodded and said, "Yeah, basically. With so many participants, we can't make sure all of them live. I hear that the first part of the exam wiped out at least half of the contestants."

_Good_, Itachi thought. _Less competition_. The Family signed their wavers and handed the papers back to Kakusho. "Thanks," Kakusho said. "You'll just need to wait for the rest of the contestants.

"Great," Itachi mumbled. "We shouldn't have gotten here so early." Itachi sat down, and the rest of the family followed suit. Temari crawled over to Itachi and sat next him.

"What the matter? Will you get bored?" Temari teased. Itachi smiled and then, wrinkling his nose, said, "You smell different today."

Temari looked at Itachi funnily and then sniffed her shoulder. She wrinkled her nose and made a that's-gross face. Temari narrowed her eyes at Itachi, then said, "What did you do?"

Itachi put on his best innocent face, and said, "I didn't do anything. But if I _had_ done something, I would have put some extra ingredients in the lotion you use every morning." Blood ran through Temari's face in anger, and she brought out her fan and tried to smack him with it. Itachi barely avoided the blow, laughing as he rolled the side. "Payback," Itachi said.

"Payback? For what? Getting you a new wardrobe?" Temari asked, poking at Itachi's new outfit that he was currently wearing.

* * *

Before long, the remaining contestants arrived, signed their wavers, and Kakusho began to explain the rules of the contest that the Family already knew. Itachi still paid attention, trying to find the unexpected detail. "In this exam, each team will be given two scrolls. The first four teams to reach the other side of the forest with all four scrolls will move on to the next part of the tournament. The four scrolls you have to have are: Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. Do _not_ open the scrolls during your time in the forest. Only open them once you have crossed the finish line. You will have 10 days to reach the finish line."

Kakusho continued on, until he finally said, "Before the next part of the exam, I need one representative from each team to make a straight line here," motioning to a space in front of the fence separating the teams from the forest. Itachi got up and said, "I'll do it for me, Sakura and Temari." Itachi looked over to the other team made up of Gaara, Kabuto, and Hinata.

Kabuto volunteered and stood up, saying, "I'll be the representative for our team." Itachi and Kabuto made their way to the space Kakusho had pointed at and got into the line.

"When you are on a mission, not only will you sometimes have to transport important documents and scrolls, you might also have an injured teammate. This will severely hamper your teamwork and that teammate's usefulness." With that, Kakusho took out a kunai, and mercilessly stabbed the first person in the line in the stomach. The guy grunted and bent over in pain. Kakusho proceeded to stab every person in the line, including Kabuto and Itachi. He then handed everyone in the line the two scrolls wrapped in packaging paper.

"When you cross the finish line, the person I have injured just now, must be injured in the same way. If your teammate isn't injured in the same way, you will be disqualified," Kakusho said. "Now, everyone make their way to the entrance gates to the forest."

Itachi and Kabuto made their way back to their family. Itachi bent over his stomach and grunted.

"That was dirty of them," Temari said, seeming sort of concerned over Itachi's injury. Itachi raised his head and said, "Sakura, when we get into the gate, heal me."

Sakura looked at him and said, "But the proctor said…"

"Don't worry about it right now," Itachi said. The Family made their way to the entrance gates they were assigned and the two teams split up for now. Sakura began to heal Itachi's stomach. After a few minutes, a siren was sounded, the signal for the exam to start. The gates opened and Itachi, Sakura, and Temari made their way to the meeting spot by the forest's river. Kabuto, Gaara, and Hinata were already waiting for them.

Kabuto's wound was already healed. Temari looked at the muscle on Kabuto's stomach through the small hole in his shirt. "How did your wound heal so fast?" She asked. Kabuto pushed up his glasses and explained, "I can regenerate my wounds. When I saw that the proctor was stabbing people in the stomach, I started focusing my chakra on my own stomach."

Itachi rubbed his own recently healed stomach, and pulled out the his team's two scrolls. He tore the packaging paper off, and examined the two scrolls. "Fire and Earth," Itachi said. "What did you guys get?"

Kabuto opened their own package and held up the two scrolls. "Water and Wind," Kabuto said. "We got lucky. We already have one set of scrolls."

"Now we have to get one more set of four scrolls," Sakura said. "It won't be easy."

"But there are six of us," Temari said. "And as far as we know, no other teams have paired up."

"We need to figure out how we want to capture the other four scrolls though," Itachi said. He turned his head towards Hinata. "Hinata, locating and tracking is your area of expertise." Everyone else also turned their heads towards Hinata.

Hinata nodded and said, "Yes. Using my Byakugan, I should be able to find the scrolls we need."

"Can you even see what kind of scrolls that the other team has in their packs?" Gaara asked. Hinata nodded, and said, "If they're within four hundred meters of me."

Itachi smiled and said, "This is going to be too easy."

* * *

Kagero and his teammates hopped through the forest. They'd already gotten all four of the scrolls they needed. The other Rain Chunin had assumed that just because they were all from the same village, Kagero's team wouldn't attack them. That team had been dreadfully wrong. The team had made it easy too. They had found Kagero's team and suggested that the two teams worked together. But after Kagero saw what scrolls that team had, his team attacked. Such trusting fools.

"Kagero," one of teammates said. "We should probably stop for the night. I heard that the landscape in this forest at night is treacherous."

Kagero examined the sun. It was nearing dusk. Sooner or later, they would run out of light. They might as well stop now. "Okay," Kagero said. "Let's get camp set up. I'll keep watch."

Kagero's teammates began setting up a tent, and Kagero stood, eagle eyed, watching for any signs of movement. His eyes were drawn to some leaves that had moved.

Itachi emerged from behind the leaves. "Well, this is ironic," Itachi said, smirking. "I never thought that you were the team that had our scrolls."

Kagero started to call out to his teammates and they came running over. "What now?" Kagero said, smiling a cocky smile. "It's three against one."

Itachi looked at them, and said, "Really? You shouldn't concentrate on just one enemy." Itachi drew his sword and pointed behind Kagero, towards the Rain nins' tent. Temari and Hinata were there, holding all four of the Rain nins' scrolls.

Kagero looked disbelieving. Then he became visibly angry and yelled, "Kill them!" Kagero began to make hand signs, then pulled two of his umbrellas off of his back and threw them into the air. "Senbon Rain Technique!" Kagero yelled. The umbrellas began to spin in the air, sending down thousands of senbon, every one of the needles aimed for Itachi.

Itachi lunged forward, charging towards Kagero. Needles rained down after him. Itachi saw that he wouldn't be able to outrun the senbon, and sheathed his sword and bit his thumb. He began making hand signs while he was running and stopped to slam his hand in the ground. "Summoning Technique!" Itachi shouted. A large green, snake-like dragon appeared in a puff of smoke, and coiled itself around Itachi. The senbon bounced harmlessly off of its scales.

Kagero's two teammates both drew kunai and tried to attack Hinata and Temari. One ran after Hinata and repeatedly slashed at her. Hinata dodged and jumped several feet back. The rain ninja made a few hand signs and several dozen clones of the ninja appeared out of nowhere. Hinata struck the clone nearest to her, but it explodes into a slime-like substance, and covered her arm. By the time Hinata got the slime off of herself, the clones were advancing. Hinata activated her Byakugan, and said, "I see. The clones cover me in the slime and slow me down. But if I stay far enough away, I should be safe." Hinata jumped back, closed her eyes, and concentrated.

"Eight Trigrams: Empty Palms!" Hinata said. Hinata began to blast chakra from her palms towards the clones. Each burst of chakra flew through the air and hit a clone. Soon, only the original was left. Hinata ran towards the ninja, and began to try to hit him with her gentle fist. He evaded the first few strikes, but finally got hit in the stomach. That really hurt, considering he was his team's representative. Hinata then went into a fighting stance and said, "Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms!" Hinata hit him repeatedly and the ninja fell over, unconscious.

The other Rain ninja ran towards Temari, making hand signs. A moment later, the ninja spit oil from his mouth, hoping to trap Temari. Temari merely took out her fan, opening it, and said, "Cutting Whirlwind Technique!" A large gust of wind blew the oil back towards the Rain ninja, trapping him in his own technique. Temari then concentrated her chakra into a whirlwind, trapping the ninja. The ninja yelled in pain, then Temari stopped her vortex and dropped the ninja the dozen feet to the ground, where he landed with a thump.

Itachi's dragon unraveled itself, and revealed Itachi, who was holding the electrical chakra of Chidori in his hand. The dragon charged towards Kagero, who jumped out of the way, rolling on the ground. Kagero stood up, reaching for more of his umbrellas, but Itachi was already in front of him, having run forward behind the dragon. Itachi stabbed Kagero in the right side of his chest. Kagero screamed out in pain. Itachi jumped on his dragon and motioned for Temari and Hinata to do the same. Temari and Hinata jumped on, making sure they had all four of the scrolls. The dragon took off through the forest, flapping its wings. The dragon winded through and around countless trees. The three had to hold on tight.

"Can't it fly any higher? Above the trees?" Temari asked, not happy with the riding conditions. The wind blew their hair back, towards their faces.

"Well, I'm sure he didn't expect to have to carry such a load when I summoned him," Itachi said, affectionately patting the dragon's scales.

"Did you just call me fat?" Temari asked, getting mad.

"What? No, I didn't just call you fat!" Itachi exclaimed. "Though now that you mention it, you probably are the heaviest girl in our family," Itachi muttered under his breath.

"You just called me fat again!" Temari yelled.

* * *

Kabuto, Gaara, and Sakura had stayed back at their pre-made camp. "Itachi, Temari, and Hinata should be arriving soon," Gaara said.

"I hope they were successful," Sakura said.

"Don't worry," Kabuto said. "Itachi doesn't accept defeat so easily."

They heard a rustling of trees to their right, and all of them turned to see Itachi's dragon burst through the forest.

Itachi jumped off the dragon, and helped Hinata get off, then offered his hand to Temari. Temari refused saying, "I don't need any help getting down from high places. I'm not a fragile woman."

"You can say that again," Itachi muttered under his breath. "Shut up!" Temari retorted. Temari started to try and reach the ground, but the dragon bucked up as she did, and Temari ended up falling face forward, shouting in surprise. Itachi caught her before she fell on her face, saying, "I guess you needed help after all." Temari huffed and tried to hide the blush on her face by turning her head. The dragon made a gravely noise that Itachi recognized as a laugh at the scene. Itachi helped her stand up and Temari walked away, still trying to hide her blush.

Itachi patted the dragon's flank, and said, "Thanks for the help, but you can go home now." The dragon growled a goodbye and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Itachi moved towards the campsite, where Kabuto was already starting a fire; it was already dark.

"Shouldn't we try to move during the night?" Sakura asked. The fire started to grow to life, and Kabuto fed more wood into it.

"No," Itachi stated flatly. "The Forest of the Reaper is dangerous during the day, but more so during the night. If you trip in the treetops and fall, you'll almost surely die. If you try to travel by ground, once you go so far in the forest that's impossible."

"What's so impossible about it?" Temari asked, her blush now gone.

"The land further in the forest is just a bunch of swamps and bogs," Kabuto answered.

"They say the bogs are bottomless," Hinata said. The Family moved into a circle around the fire, sitting next to it, warming themselves.

"So, it's a better idea to travel when we can see where we're going?" Gaara asked, though it wasn't really a question.

"Before we go to bed though," Itachi said, a mischievous glint in his eye, "Do you want to hear the story of the Reaper who the forest is named after?"

Curious glances were exchanged around the fire, then the general consensus was 'yes.'

Itachi smiled then started the story. "Long ago, a ninja who wielded a scythe in battle died in this forest. He was betrayed by his own friends and teammates. They were on a mission to see how good Konoha's defenses were. This ninja was a wealthy man, and his teammates wanted his money. They made him sign a will, then killed him, leaving his corpse in the forest. But the ninja's vengeful spirit didn't really die. His spirit made a deal with the god of death. The deal was that the ninja's spirit would become a physical being and he would stalk these woods, killing people and sending them to the god of death."

Itachi looked at his family for a moment. They all had interested and slightly scared faces , which made Itachi smile a little. Itachi continued his ghost story.

"The ninja's former teammates had another mission in this forest, and naturally he killed them first. Then he began to uphold his end of the deal and started to send people to the god of death by killing them with his giant scythe. There is a rumor that says that the ninja can live in peace if someone kills his spirit, but that's probably not likely. They say he has freakish strength and speed, and that not even ninjutsu can kill him. No man is supposed to be able to kill him." Itachi said as he almost finished his story.

"They say that people hear a howling noise before the Reaper kills them," Itachi went on. "It's supposed to go something like this: woOoOoOoOoOoOo."

The Family sat in silence for a moment, then Gaara said, "But that just a---

Suddenly, in the distance, the eerie call of 'WoOoOoOo' was sounded. The whole Family jumped at least three inches. They regained their composure, and Itachi said, "Probably another squad who knows the story trying to freak people out." The others reluctantly nodded. That is, until another long wail was heard. Closer this time.

"Whoever it is," Temari said. "They're taking this prank way too far."

A third wail was heard, even closer. "Hinata," Itachi said. "See if you can find who that is." Hinata nodded and activated her Byakugan. After a few moments she said, "I can't see anybody making that noise," as she deactivated her Byakugan.

A fourth wail was heard that couldn't have been more than 100 feet away. Itachi picked up a stick, and dipped it into the fire. He raised it up, using it as a torch. "Who's out there?" Itachi yelled.

A fifth wail was sounded right behind them. All of the Family jumped and turned around. What they saw horrified them.

Before them stood the Reaper. It was easily three times larger than an average man. It held a giant scythe that was as tall as the Reaper. The blade was as long as half a man, and at least as thick as three average arms. While most of the Reaper's body was hidden behind a huge, white cloak, its arms, feet and face were not. The hands and feet ended in claws, and the Reaper apparently had purple skin. It also had long white hair, two horns on its forehead, and large fangs. It looked like the god of death itself.

The Family all wore faces of shock and disbelief. Itachi finally found his voice and yelled, "Are you freaking kidding me!?!?"

The Reaper apparently wasn't kidding and it charged towards the Family. It swung its scythe down, and the Family barely dodged. "If it's a fight he wants, let's give him one!" Itachi yelled. He bit his thumb and made some hand signs, the put his hand on the ground, saying "Summoning Technique!" The green dragon appeared again. It seemed to instantly know who the enemy was and lunged towards the Reaper. The Reaper jumped back, but the dragon hit the Reaper with its tail.

The Reaper fell back slightly, but recovered quickly and swung his giant scythe at the dragon. The dragon nimbly dodged, and Sakura took over offense. She ran at the Reaper and used her inhuman strength to hit the Reaper backwards. She jumped back, barely avoiding Reaper's scythe.

Gaara's sand rushed in and began to hit the Reaper while it was stumbling backwards. Gaara used his sand to try and restrict the Reaper's movements, but the Reaper was too large for that trick. It flexed its muscles and headed for Gaara, swinging its scythe downward. Gaara's sand shield rushed in to block the blow, but the scythe still managed to penetrate the sand. Gaara leaned backwards, staring at the scythe inches away from his face.

Temari took this as her opportunity, and attacked, yelling, "Great Cutting Whirlwind!" The force of the wind pushed the Reaper backwards, and Temari tried to capture the Reaper in a whirlwind, but again, the Reaper was too large and too heavy.

Itachi formed a few hand signs and his Chidori roared to life. The sound of thousands of birds drew the Reaper's attention to Itachi, and the Reaper charged, horizontally swinging his scythe. Itachi ran towards the Reaper as well, but his dragon picked him up when the scythe was about to cleave him in two. Itachi's dragon dropped him towards the Reaper, and Itachi formed his Chidori into a blade form, extending it a few meters. Itachi used his Chidori to slice off the blade of the scythe and used it again to cut the remaining staff in half.

The Reaper threw down his ruined weapon and punched Itachi while he was in the air. Itachi went flying, only to be saved by his dragon, who caught him. A huge gust of wind caught the Reaper in the back, cutting him, and pushing him forward, as Temari once again swung her fan.

When the wind died, Sakura jumped towards the Reaper, punching in the back, and into a large tree. The Reaper bumped into the tree the swung its fist around, backhanding Sakura. She flew into a large tree. Kabuto leapt to her aid and started healing her. There wasn't much he could do to the Reaper because he needed to know the anatomy of his opponent.

The Reaper ran towards Kabuto and Sakura swinging his fists down like hammers. Sakura and Kabuto jumped opposite direction, avoiding the Reaper's fists. Hinata then attacked the Reaper with her Empty Palm technique, but her technique hardly seemed to slow it down as it charged towards her. Hinata nimbly jumped over the Reaper and retreated.

The Reaper turned around and tried to move forward, but all of Gaara's sand, including that from his gourd, was around the Reaper's feet and dedicated to holding the Reaper in place. Hinata used her Empty Palms Technique to hit the Reaper repeated times. Itachi ran forward and drew his sword. He jumped towards the reaper and channeled some electrical chakra into his sword. When he reached the Reaper, he sliced downward, cutting the Reaper in half, vertically.

The remains of the Reaper fell into two separate piles and spontaneously combusted into flame. The Family all sat down and rested, tired from avoiding the Reaper's scythe and punches.

"Should we tell anyone?" Temari asked, still panting.

"Who would believe us?" Itachi said, as the flames from the Reaper's remains died down.

**To be continued**

Once again, please leave me a review and my thanks to Lenne Vampire and JFalcon. I hope you had as much fun reading this chapter as I had writing it. This was definitely one of the most fun chapters to write.

As you probably guessed, I won't be updating tomorrow or the day after, since it's Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Merry Christmas! (Or Whatever Holiday You Celebrate!)


	10. Forest of the Reaper, Part 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way or sort.

**Forest of the Reaper, Part 2 **

Itachi looked at the corpse of the giant…thing. "I never want to have to fight something three times my size again." He reached for a cigarette, only to groan with dissappointment when he realized that he was out.

Hinata walked over beside Itachi. "It's good we were all together. I wouldn't have wanted to face it alone." Kabuto nodded his head and said, "If we had fought it one on one we might have lost."

"We need to get some sleep and rest," Temari said. Everyone tiredly nodded and each went to their bedroll. Itachi stood up and said, "I'll take the first watch. Who's after me?" Kabuto pushed up his glasses and said, "I'll go after you, Itachi," Itachi nodded and began the nightly watch while the rest of the group drifted into a deep sleep.

* * *

Temari awoke and sat up, stretching her arms. She took a brief glance around and noticed that everyone was awake except Itachi. Temari got out of her bedroll and rolled it up. She walked over to the fire that had already been burning for a while. Probably since Gaara had woken.

Everyone was sitting around the fire, watching as Sakura and Hinata cooked several small fish. "Good thing we decided to camp by a river," Temari said in greeting. The rest of the Family turned her way and said, "Good morning."

Temari looked towards the sun and saw that it was actually pretty late in the morning. "It's kind of late," Temari said as she sat down on the grass around the fire.

Kabuto looked past her, at Itachi, and smiled a little. "We're letting him sleep in. All of that summoning and chidori must have made a big dent in his chakra."

Temari smirked a little and said, "I'm sure he can take it. Besides, we need to get moving."

"What makes you say that?" Sakura asked, looking up from her cooking.

"We need to get to the finish line as soon as possible, don't we?" Temari asked. It was a rhetorical question, so she didn't expect the answer she got.

"Actually," Kabuto said, "We can take it easy. We've already got 2 sets of all four scrolls, remember? We just need to try and avoid any other teams."

Temari smirked a little and said, "In that case, I'm going to have a little fun." The rest of the Family looked like they didn't really know what she was talking about, and returned to their cooking. Temari got up and walked over to a tree that she judged would served her purpose.

Temari took out a kunai and stabbed the tree, trying to pushed the knife in as deep as it would go. Finally, Temari took out the kunai and examined it. It was covered in tree syrup. _Perfect_ she thought.

Temari stalked over to where Itachi was sleeping, careful not to make any noise that would wake him. She bent over and carefully wiped the syrup off of the kunai and onto Itachi's outstretched hand. She smirked evilly, then picked a leaf off of the ground and carefully rubbed the very tip of the leaf on Itachi's face. Itachi moaned a little, then raised his hand that was covered in syrup, and struck at the leaf. He ended up smacking himself on the cheek. With a hand that was covered in syrup.

Itachi awoke with a start, his eyes already changed into the sharingan. It took Itachi a moment to realize what just happened, but full realization hit him soon. He sat up somberly and said in a dull voice, "Temari."

Temari sat next to him and said, "Yes?" trying to feign innocence.

"Why did you make me hit myself with syrup?" Itachi said in the same dull voice. He hadn't fully woken up yet.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Temari said as she stuck out her lower lip.

Itachi looked at her with his crimson eyes and said, "I bet you don't." Itachi got out of his bedroll and moved towards the river to wash his face.

* * *

The Family jumped through the forest. Hinata had her Byakugan activated, telling the Family where they might run into another team. The Family avoided all other teams and made it to the finish time by dusk.

The finish line was a large iron gate and fence surrounding the forest. Waiting Jonins were on the other side. The Family reached the gate and Hinata said, "I guess this is it."

"We can't cross yet," Itachi said. The rest of the Family looked longingly towards the gate that was only several dozen meters away. "Why not?" Sakura asked.

"Don't you remember what the proctor said? Kabuto and I have to be injured in the same way as the proctor injured us to cross the finish line," Itachi said.

The rest of the group thought about that for a moment, the awful truth dawning on them.

Itachi took out a kunai, and so did Kabuto. Each stabbed themselves in the stomach, letting out grunts of pain. The rest of the Family looked on in concern, but they knew this was necessary to pass the exam. The family moved on towards the gate. The Jonins saw them coming and said, "If you have all four scrolls, place them in the correct slots and step back. Itachi, Temari, and Sakura went forward first, placing their scrolls in their respective slots. They stepped back and watched. In a moment the scrolls were vaporized and the gate opened. Temari, Itachi, and Sakura stepped through the gate, and it closed behind them.

One of the Jonin came up to greet them and looked at some papers. "Itachi," the jonin said, "show me your wound." Itachi let the man see his stomach. The man looked at the wound for a while then said, "This wound looks fresh. A wound you received days ago wouldn't look like this."

Itachi looked at the man bitterly and said, "Did I cross the finish line wounded in the same spot as when I first entered the forest?" The man smiled, then said, "I suppose you did. Congratulations, you've all passed the Forest of the Reaper. You may all go home until you are called for the next part of the exam." They waited for the rest of the Family to pass and then they all rejoiced as one.

* * *

I know this chapter is so short and I hate myself for it. I feel really bad that this is all you guys are getting after such a long wait. Sorry about that by the way, but after Christmas, I had a trip to go on, and a certain video game (Assassin's Creed) has been taking up a lot of my time. And, of course, I'm sick today. It's wonderful. Again I'm really sorry I'm making the few people who actually do read my fanfic wait longer. Please leave a review. All criticisms are welcome. 


	11. Lost Patience 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

First off, I would like to say that I'm extremely grateful for all of JFalcon's reviews. I would like to answer some of the questions that he asked of me in these long reviews. First off, about who they were cloned from. That was really kind of random, to be honest. I thought that it would be cool to have these characters who didn't really play that big a role in the series (minus Sakura) to be main characters in my own story. I try to make everyone's personality resemble who they were cloned from. (Except for Itachi of course) I'm really happy that you (JFalcon) think Temari is acting like Temari.

About the Family being Genin; I thought I said something in a chapter about them being Chunin, but I could be wrong. If I didn't, I'll just say right now that the Family are all Chunins currently.

Also, about the character's dialogue, I was actually writing that way. I didn't think it would be a problem for any readers, but apparently it is, so I will be happy to rectify my mistake.

And I decided that you (JFalcon) were right about the ANBU. So I dedicated this chapter to your little rant in the review.

**Lost Patience **

Itachi took a drag on a new cigarette. When he'd run out of cigarettes in the Forest of the Reaper, he'd been kind of peeved.

It was the morning after the Family had passed the second part of the exam. Both of their teams had passed, Itachi's team coming in first, Kabuto's team coming in second. All of the Family was sleeping in, even Gaara. Itachi, of course, had woken up early. He was currently leaning against the wall in the hallway outside of his and Temari's rooms.

He could hear Temari breathing, even from the hallway. He shook his head and thought, _She'd be a hard person to sleep with since she breathes so loudly. _Itachi took another huff on the cigarette and thought to himself.

_Since we finished early, the proctor said we had the extra time from the exam, plus one week, to recuperate and rest. That's almost two weeks_. Itachi had heard somewhere that the Genin were allowed one month to prepare for the last part of the Chunin Exam. After preliminaries, of course.

The Jonin Exam, however, had no preliminaries. Since only the first four teams to cross the finish line passed, only 12 Chunin could participate in the last part of the Jonin Exam. The Family made half that number.

Itachi took a drag on his cigarette again. He was feeling restless this morning, but didn't really know why. Normally, he could assess his feelings, or what was causing him anxiety. This time it was different. Maybe it was that ANBU guard from last night…

ANBU typically didn't challenge his authority. Not anymore anyway. When he was a kid, the compound had been a living Hell. Kakashi had been the devil, and the ANBU had been the demons.

Kakashi called what he had done to Itachi 'training.' Kakashi made sure Itachi could withstand anything, and Kakashi hadn't been gentle about it. The ANBU had only been too eager to test these clones that were supposed to be better than the best.

It was, in fact, rogue ANBU that had branded Itachi with the cursed seal. They had hoped that it would either kill him, or drive him crazy with a lust for power. Itachi smiled bitterly. That plan went horribly wrong.

However, there was a new ANBU stationed for guard duty at the compound, and the man wasn't exactly pleased he had to take orders from a mere Chunin.

Itachi had literally bumped into the new ANBU that had a scratch on his mask while turning a corner in one of the endless hallways. It wasn't even anything to be upset about, but the fact that there was an ANBU close by upset Itachi.

"You should watch where you are going," Itachi said roughly, as he picked himself up off of the ground.

The ANBU did likewise, then said, "Maybe you should watch where you are going. But of course, mere Chunins don't have the grace of an ANBU either."

The comment's meaning was not lost on Itachi. Itachi took another drag on his cigarette, as if just thinking about this new ANBU made him stressed. He thought for a moment, then came to a conclusion. The best way to teach this new ANBU respect was to beat him…soundly.

* * *

Temari woke up peacefully, inhaling the scent of her pillow. If it had a scent, that is. She sat up in bed and stretched, working out the kinks in her arms and legs. She let out a groan that wasn't very girly, and stopped stretching. She sat on the bed for a minute and then heard a rapping on her door. She decided she looked decent enough to answer the door, wearing pajama pants and a loose-fitting shirt.

Temari got out of bed and thought about fixing her hair into their customary four ponytails, but decided that would take too long. She decided she was going to be extremely rude to the person knocking on the door and try and run them off. It's what they get for knocking on her door so early.

She walked over to her door, stifling a yawn, then opened the door, intent on being rude to the person on the other side of the door, probably an ANBU. It hit her now that being rude to an ANBU was something Itachi did on an hourly basis. Instead of the ANBU she was expecting, she saw Itachi himself leaning in the doorway.

Temari was rather startled. "Itachi? What are you doing?"

Itachi looked at her with a bored face, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "I was leaning on the wall outside. Your very heavy breathing stopped, and I wanted to make sure that you hadn't smothered yourself."

Temari smirked and said, "I'm touched by your concern," with obvious sarcasm. She suddenly remembered that she hadn't exactly fixed herself up yet, and a slight blush crept across her cheeks.

Itachi's crimson eyes looked past her, and he said, "I don't suppose you'd let me sit on your bed? I've been standing for a while, and my legs are tired."

Temari rolled her eyes and stepped back, letting him in. "I suppose I shouldn't have expected you to be so tough. Don't put your feet on my bed. I don't want grime all over it."

Itachi looked a little annoyed at her remark, but came into her room anyway. He stepped towards her bed and seated himself, still smoking on his cigarette. Temari stalked over and plucked the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Hey!" Itachi exclaimed, surprised.

"No smoking in my room," Temari said, throwing the cigarette in a nearby wastebasket. "I don't want to die early from secondhand smoke."

Itachi sighed and made a rude gesture involving his middle finger. Temari returned the gesture and headed towards the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower. I'd better not hear the door open," Temari said. The bathroom doors in the Family's rooms didn't lock, a fact which annoyed Temari.

"What if you don't hear the door open?" Itachi said with a smirk.

Temari narrowed her eyes and said, "If the door opens at all, I'll permanently implant my fan in your brain."

Temari decided Itachi had been threatened enough, and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Itachi lied backwards on Temari's bed. He'd decided that peeking on Temari in the shower was not worth the risk of her fan in his head. Right now, he kind of wished he had Hinata's Byakugan. Smirking, Itachi wondered if Hinata ever used her Byakugan for…less than moral reasons. He'd have to question her about that later.

After about 20 minutes, Temari emerged from the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel and a blush. Her hair and body were still wet from the shower. "I forgot to bring my clothes in the bathroom with me," she explained. "Don't try anything."

Itachi smirked. "Why do you always assume that I'm some sort of pervert? I'm not going to try anything. I'll even close my eyes," he said, and his crimson orbs disappeared behind his eyelids. He heard the bathroom door close and opened his eyes.

Temari reappeared after a few more minutes in the bathroom, now wearing her customary ponytails and said, "Since I still don't know my way around, care to walk me to breakfast?"

Itachi sighed and said, "I really shouldn't, since you threw away my cigarette. But I don't want you to get lost forever in the halls either. I guess I don't have much of a choice."

* * *

Itachi and Temari walked down one of the hallways, side by side.

"I can't believe you still don't know your way around," Itachi said.

"No matter how much I try to learn the layout of the hallways, I just can't figure it out," Temari said, irritation in her voice.

Itachi smirked and said, "Kakashi told us not to do this, but I'll tell you a secret."

Temari turned her head towards him, curiosity on her face, "What is it?"

Itachi simply said, "There is a secret to learning the layout of the hallways."

Temari looked at him attentively, but Itachi didn't go on. "Is that it?" Temari asked, annoyance plain in her voice.

Itachi smiled and said, "I can't tell you all of it, can I?"

Temari obviously didn't like that answer, and her fan spoke her discontent. Itachi rubbed the back of his head, and Temari muttered under her breath, "Baka…"

* * *

Itachi and Temari sat at one of the tables in the compound's cafeteria, eating a breakfast of eggs and assorted vegetables. Despite being the living Hell Itachi often equated it with, the compound did have good food.

Itachi saw a small group of ANBU out of the corner of his crimson eye. "I wonder if the ANBU staring at us are attracted to you, or just hate me," Itachi said.

Temari swallowed the vegetable she was chewing, and turned her head in the direction of Itachi's gaze. Six ANBU were staring intently at them, watching them eat. "Maybe their stalking us. Like you were stalking me when you were outside my room this morning," Temari said with a smirk.

Itachi pushed away his tray, being done with his meal. "I was just smoking in the hall outside my room, which is right next to yours," Itachi said, futilely trying to defend himself.

"Then why did you come running when I woke up?" Temari said, trying to corner him.

"Your breathe so heavy when you sleep I could hear you from the hallway," Itachi countered. "I was seriously concerned you might have smothered yourself in your sleep."

"So you were so intently listening at my door that you noticed when I stopped breathing? That's pretty incriminating, Itachi-chan," Temari said, using the hated suffix.

Itachi sighed and gave up, saying, "I've learned not to try and argue with women, because we men have a disadvantage."

Temari raised an eyebrow, then said, "Oh? What would that be?"

"We have a natural tendency to need something to make sense," Itachi said, smirking triumphantly.

Temari reached over the table and smacked him in the head.

* * *

Temari picked up her tray and put it in the kitchen window for pick up. Itachi, however, made no move to pick up his tray.

"You should really put up your tray. It's not really the ANBUs' job to do these kind of things. They are the elite after all," Temari said as she walked back towards the table.

Itachi suddenly turned a serious gaze on her and said, "Temari." His tone was also suddently very serious. "The ANBU are number two. The Hokage, Kakashi, Anko, and our Family are number one. _We_ are the most powerful people here. And some ANBU are…"

Itachi didn't go on, but his gaze turned bitter. Temari decided not to dwell on it, and tried to change the subject. She smiled and said, "Let's go to the training field. Let me just put up your tray…" Temari reached for Itachi's tray but he stopped her.

"No," Itachi said, "Don't." Itachi picked up his tray and walked towards the general direction of the kitchen window. At first, Temari thought Itachi was actually going to put up his tray, but he did something she hadn't expected any sane person to do.

Itachi stopped walking about halfway to the kitchen window. He faced the six ANBUs who had been staring at Temari and him. He stared back at them with a furious intensity that made more than one of them want to reach for their weapons. Itachi then hurled the tray towards the group of six ANBU with all of the physical might he could muster.

The ANBUs deftly dodged the tray, which made a loud smacking sound as it hit the wall behind the group. Itachi walked down the hall towards the training area. Temari's jaw dropped, but she hastily closed her mouth and ran after Itachi.

* * *

As she caught up with Itachi, Temari yelled, "What the heck were you doing?! You could have hurt one of them!"

Itachi calmly answered, "They're ANBU. If they can't dodge a tray, they don't deserve that title."

Temari looked behind her and said, "But now they're following us! I think they want to fight you!" Temari was obviously concerned about the situation and Itachi obviously wasn't.

"Is the one with a scratch on his mask following us?" Itachi asked.

Temari looked behind them at the following ANBUs. "Yeah, I see one who has a scratch on his mask."

Itachi smiled bitterly and said, "Good."

Itachi and Temari reached the training area soon and saw that the rest of the Family was already there, along with several sparring ANBU. Itachi and Temari walked over to the Family.

Kabuto looked over to Itachi in greeting and immediately saw that something was wrong. He walked over and asked, "What's happening?"

Itachi didn't answer, but turned around and faced the oncoming ANBU. The ANBU that had been sparring also joined the ANBU from the cafeteria, forming a large group of ANBU.

Kabuto looked at what was happening, and made an educated guess about what had happened. He was right on the money. "Itachi," Kabuto said, his voice nervous. "Don't do this. What if—

Itachi cut him off. "Shut up, Kabuto." His voice wasn't exactly unkind, but it wasn't really nice either.

The ANBU with the scratch on his mask emerged from the group and stood in front, the unofficial leader of the mob. "Some of my fellow ANBU inform me that you don't give them the respect they deserve, Itachi-kun," 'Scratch' said.

Itachi stared at Scratch with a burning intensity. "Really? I don't really think some of the ANBU are worthy of respect," Itachi said callously.

Scratch seemed amused by this. "So, you don't think that the elite of the leaf village are worthy of respect? That seems stupid to me. Especially when most of the people in this group have more combat experience than you. And the fact that you are a mere Chunin. It seems that you should have the utmost respect to these people."

Itachi was unfazed. "I didn't say all of them were unworthy of respect. But I've seen a side of ANBU that most people haven't. It's a cruel side."

Scratch shook his head and chuckled. "You know," Scratch said, "I was here several years ago. I was assigned to protect you clones." If possible, Itachi's gaze intensified, but Scratch continued.

"To protect the great ninja of the future. All I saw were children. Even after I trained you relentlessly, you were still just children. And you still are. Do you know how much your existence cost Konoha? For the same price, we could have bought enough weapons to equip an army."

"Apparently," Itachi said with a smug smile, "Konoha's Hokage at the time decided that you and yours weren't good enough to protect Konoha." Itachi motioned behind him to his Family, now all gathered behind him. "_We_ were needed."

Scratch seemed to growl a little. A wiser ANBU tried to stop Scratch, but Scratch paid no heed. "It seems you still need a lesson," Scratch said, drawing his katana.

"It seems you never had your lesson," Itachi said as he drew his own sword. "I'm going to show you the same mercy you showed to me."

The Family and the crowd of ANBU backed off, giving the opponents plenty of room. The opponents circled each other.

Scratch moved first, running towards Itachi. The ANBU swung his katana at Itachi, who blocked with his own sword. Itachi jumped backwards, seeking to gain some room.

Scratch stuck his sword into the ground, freeing his hands, and began to make hand seals. "Earth Spike Technique," Scratch said.

Itachi leapt out off the ground quickly. Large, sharp spikes of earth erupted from where he was standing. Itachi landed gently on the ground, watching Scratch with his crimson eyes.

The ANBU continued making hand seals, this time saying, "Water Element: Water Dragon Missile."

The water in the training area began to come to life, taking the shape of a large dragon. Itachi didn't seem too concerned as the dragon lunged toward him. Itachi dodged the large beast quite easily by jumping in the air.

But Scratch appeared behind Itachi while he was still in the air, using bandages that came out of nowhere to wrap around Itachi. One of the bandages wrapped around Itachi's sword and flung the weapon far away into the grass of the training area.

Itachi was now trapped by Scratch's bandages. Scratch's watery dragon dissolved, and Scratch grabbed Itachi from behind. Scratch angled their heads towards the ground and began to spin them around rapidly. "Primary Lotus," Scratch said.

They both began to head towards the ground quickly. Right before they hit the ground, Scratch jumped away and landed on the ground safely. There was a large crash as Itachi hit the ground going at full speed. Smoke and dust floated around the crater which Itachi had landed in. "It's over," Scratch said calmly.

As the smoke cleared, the Family looked towards the crater where Itachi had landed, concerned about their brother. However, Itachi wasn't in the crater. Several people made confused noises.

Scratch looked backwards towards the crater and saw that it was empty. He was confused by this and the growing noise that was coming from under his feet. The noise almost sounded like one thousand bir—

At that moment, Itachi leapt out of the ground in front of Scratch. A chidori was already activated in one of his hands. Itachi jabbed at Scratch with his chidori, while Scratch frantically jumped backwards.

As Scratch jumped backwards, he thought he saw Itachi smile. He knew why after a moment. As Scratch jumped backwards, two human-sized golden dragons emerged from the ground next to Scratch and closed their jaws on Scratch's shoulders, holding him.

Itachi was completely out of the ground now, and running straight for Scratch with an activated chidori. Scratch quickly formed hand signs, and a stream of water surged towards Itachi.

Itachi looked towards the stream of water with annoyance and moved his chidori to intercept. The water hit Itachi's hand, but Chidori simply sliced through the water, merely getting Itachi wet. The two techniques cancelled each other out, and when the water stopped, so did Chidori.

Itachi turned his crimson gaze towards Scratch once more, the dragons holding him down while he tried to struggle out of their razor sharp teeth. Running out of options, Scratch realized he would have to call for help.

Scratch managed to wipe some of the blood from the wound on his shoulder onto his thumb, then raised his sleeve, revealing an odd tattoo on his forearm. Scratch barely managed to rub the blood on his thumb on to the tattoo. "Summoning Technique: Golems!" Scratch shouted. Suddenly two lumps of earth and rock near Scratch started to grow and take shape.

Itachi raised his eyebrow in interest. The two golems were eight feet tall each. They looked mostly humanoid, but their body parts were huge compared to a person's. The golems grabbed Itachi's dragons, throwing them away from Scratch, freeing him in the process. Scratch drew his katana and ran towards Itachi, slashing away.

Itachi dodged most of the sword strokes easily, then jumped to where the summoned creatures were fighting. His dragons were losing. Luckily, he had an advantage over the golems. He jumped in the air to try and get away from his attacker, Scratch. He turned his crimson eyes to check on Scratch.

Scratch was currently involved in making hand signs, so Itachi was safe for the moment. Itachi pulled out several shuriken from his ninja butt pouch and waited for the opportune moment. The golems moved closer together and Itachi struck.

Itachi threw his shuriken at the golems and used metal wire attached to the shuriken to direct the shuriken in several circles around the two golems. Itachi landed on the ground and pulled on the wire, constricting it around the golems, the metal wire slightly cutting their stone bodies. "Sharingan Windmill," he said.

Itachi glanced over at Scratch, who was sending earth spikes towards him. Itachi jumped out of the way, towards his dragons. He let the dragons take the metal wire in their mouths to hold it tight. Itachi made a few hand signs before yelling, "Chidori!" Lightning chakra enveloped his hand, making the screeching of a thousand birds. Itachi extended the chakra into a long blade and cut the golems in half. The remaining halves of the golems crumbled away into earth and rock.

Itachi looked back to where he last saw the ANBU, but Scratch was no longer there. Instead, Scratch exploded out of the ground in front of Itachi and swung his katana at Itachi's chest. Itachi sidestepped, but it wasn't enough. Scratch's sword swung through Itachi arm, in between Itachi's elbow and shoulder. The dismembered limb fell away in the grass of the training area…

To be Continued…

* * *

As always, review and criticisms are welcome. I realized this was going to be really long so I decided to make it two chapters. Don't fret, there will be more fighting to come. This chapter was really fun to write as well. 


	12. Lost Patience 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Don't own the series, manga, universe, or the characters.

I'm so sorry to you guys who actually read this fanfic. In the last chapter, I forgot to edit the chapter before I posted it -- I had a brain fart that day, so sorry.

Lost Patience 2 

Itachi jumped away from Scratch and grabbed at the remaining stub of his arm in pain. Itachi grimaced and clutched his stub.

Temari could hardly suppress the gasp that came when Scratch cut off Itachi's left arm. Her hands came to her mouth as she gasped.

Sakura's mouth dropped open and Gaara's eyes narrowed, signaling he was angry.

Kabuto and Hinata looked concerned, but didn't have the same surprised expressions as Temari, Sakura, and Gaara. Temari saw their expressions and yelled at Kabuto, "What's wrong with you?! Itachi just lost his arm!"

Kabuto glanced at her, then turned his attention back to the battlefield. "He'll be fine. Just watch. It's not really his arm I'm worried about."

Temari looked at Kabuto with a confused expression. But before she could question him further, Scratch spoke.

Itachi looked long and hard at Scratch, who seemed to be wearing a victorious smile under his ANBU mask. Scratch began to talk. "I thought that particular technique would work better on you. It's an earth element technique that temporarily laces my sword with extremely sharp diamonds. It allows my sword to easily cleave through bone. You said that you were more powerful than me. I don't see that happening. With only one arm, you'll be even weaker."

Itachi stared at Scratch a while, then laughed a little. Then he laughed harder. Then even harder. He was practically slapping his knees.

Scratch's jaw must've dropped, but his mask hid any expressions. "Just what are you laughing about?!" Scratch yelled at Itachi. "You just lost your arm!"

Itachi's laughter slowly died. He looked at Scratch and said, "You honestly think that a lost limb weakens me? You're a fool. I wanted you to cut my arm off."

Several spectators' jaws dropped. Kabuto merely shook his head. Hinata made a small girlish sound and had a concerned look on her face.

Scratch was shocked. "What are you talking about?!" Scratch yelled at Itachi.

Itachi calmly said, "It gives me an excuse to show you all of my power. To show you just how far the gap between us is." Intricately curved red lines began to move over Itachi's body. The lines stopped moving and changed to black. He looked as though he had many tattoos on his body. Then Itachi closed his eyes and concentrated.

The flesh of Itachi's stub of an arm began to move. It looked as though things were moving under Itachi's skin. After a few moments, a grotesque organ-looking thing popped out of Itachi's stub. A second later the organ thing transformed into a purple armored arm. (cough Ukon and Sakon's cursed seal cough)

Everyone except Hinata and Kabuto gaped in amazement.

Itachi ran towards Scratch, who was still in shock. While he was running, Itachi also transformed his right leg into a purple armored leg. He now had two armored limbs, his right leg and left arm.

Scratch raised his sword in defense, though the diamond technique had long worn away. Itachi ran up to Scratch and tried to backhand Scratch with his armored arm, but Scratch intercepted with his sword. The sword couldn't even stand up to Itachi's arm, though, and Itachi succeeded in backhanding Scratch several feet away.

While Scratch was getting off of the ground, Itachi began to make hand signs. In his left armored hand, Itachi activated a chidori. But the chidori changed from its usual blue color to a nightmarish black color. The usual sound of a thousand screeching birds changed to the distinct sound of a thousand birds flapping their wings.

"Thousand Flapping Birds!" Itachi yelled as he ran towards Scratch, who had used an earth technique protect himself. Scratch was suddenly encased in his own earthen armor. Itahci however, would not be denied. He kicked Scratch into the air with his armored foot. Itachi jumped into the air after him and made his corrupt chidori explode in a burst of black electricity.

After the burst, Scratch fell to the ground. Smoke was rising off of his body, but there was no wound to indicate Itachi had stabbed Scratch with his chidori, and no trace of his earthen armor.

Itachi landed on the ground. His armored limbs had returned to normal, and his formerly cut off arm looked fine. Itachi's dragons had long disappeared. Itachi stalked over to Scratch's prone body. He looked down at the ANBU, hatred clearly showing in his crimson eyes.

Itachi then kicked Scratch in the stomach. Hard.

"Remember this?" Itachi asked with another kick, this time in Scratch's ribs. "I do."

Scratch groaned in pain and tried to roll away from his attacker. Itachi simply kicked him in the leg.

Scratch tried to say something. "You are a mon—

Itachi cut him off with a kick to his jaw. "A what? A monster? At least I didn't torture children on a daily basis." Itachi delivered another kick to Scratch's ribs.

Scratch tried to crawl away from his assailant this time, but Itachi put his foot down on Scratch's neck, pushing Scratch's face into the dirt. Itachi pushed down with his foot, then said, "You know, even though Kakashi was the devil in this living hell they call the ANBU compound, you ANBU really gave it that name. At least he didn't beat the living crap out of me every time he saw me."

Itachi took his foot off of Scratch's neck and delivered another kick. "How does it feel?" Itachi asked. He raised his leg for another vicious kick, but a hand caught his leg and threw him several feet away from the downed ANBU. Itachi got up to see his attacker, and saw Kakashi.

The Hokage, Tsunade, walked through the crowd of ANBU and walked over to Itachi. "Itachi-kun," Tsunade said. "Let's take a walk."

Itachi looked at Tsunade's face and saw that there was no room for argument. Itachi got off of the ground and walked past Kakashi, but Kakashi grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"You're an idiot," Kakashi informed him. "Instigating a fight with an ANBU captain? That's just stupid. Don't forget that we are all on the same side."

Itachi narrowed his crimson eyes and said, "There are only a select few ANBU that I claim to be comrades with. The rest of them are _not_ on my side." With that, Itachi pulled out of Kakashi's grip and walked over to where Tsunade was waiting.

Tsunade and Itachi walked through Konoha, Tsunade looking for a place to sit, such as a park bench, while Itachi mentally prepared himself for the scolding he would surely get. Tsunade finally saw a bench and walked over to sit. She patted the seat next to her, and Itachi reluctantly sat down.

Itachi's relationship with Tsunade was that of what and mother or big sister might be. She was always there to scold him. Constantly.

"I should punch you through a wall," Tsunade said.

"That's a wonderful way to start a conversation," Itachi said sarcastically.

"Well, what would you suggest as a punishment?" Tsunade said.

"Why is there even a punishment in the first place?" Itachi said. "We were just having a friendly sparring match."

"You lost an arm," Tsunade pointed out. "And you viciously beat your opponent once he was clearly beaten."

"I was just showing him what it was like," Itachi said bitterly. "I don't know how the ANBU in Suna treated Temari, Gaara, and Sakura, but Kabuto, Hinata, and I were in Hell."

Tsunade looked at him with concern, then said, "I know it was tough on you, but…Itachi, that is all in the past."

"No, it's not," Itachi said angrily. "We still live there. We are still in the building of Hell. I'm tired of feeling like I might be attacked when I walk past an ANBU. And when I prove that I am finally stronger than my 'personal demons,' I get punished."

Tsunade smiled for a moment, then said, "Actually, you might be happy about one thing."

Itachi met her gaze, interested. "What's that?"

Tsunade smirked and said, "You don't need to take the final phase of the Jonin Exams. I just watched you make an ANBU captain look like an idiot. He was bound to be stronger than anyone you faced in the actual exam."

Itachi looked shocked for a minute, then asked, "So…Am I a Jonin now?"

Tsunade said, "Well, I technically have to fill out the paperwork first, but you can start calling yourself a Jonin for all I care."

Itachi seemed to think for a moment, then brought out a cigarette and was about to light it when he decided to put it back. "I took out a lot of stress on that ANBU," he explained.

"Speaking of paperwork," Tsunade said with a sly grin, "We have some missing documents in my office. And evidence that someone burned them. Any idea who did it?"

Itachi stared blankly for a split-second before saying, "None. You obviously don't have enough security around the mansion."

Tsunade chuckled before saying, "Yeah, I bet we don't. You're really making me want to punch you through a wall right now."

They sat in silence for a moment before Itachi said something. "Tsunade?"

Tsunade turned her head towards him and said, "It's Tsunade-sama," then answering with a blunt "What?"

Itachi seemed to struggle with getting the question out, but he managed it. "The Hokage who deemed it necessary for our creation; what kind of man was he?"

Tsunade seemed surprised by the question, and thought about it for a moment. "He was…wise, I think."

"You think?" Itachi seemed skeptical.

Tsunade explained. "He saw that there could be a need for you guys in the future. He wasn't going to let our village's fate be decided by the a random chance of shinobi who might've been powerful. He wanted to know for sure that the village would be safe."

"Sounds like a practical man," Itachi said. "But so many people opposed the idea."

"People opposed his idea because they didn't think it was ethical. But sometimes, you have to make choices that might not be morally right to find the best solution to a problem," Tsunade said. "I have to go, and you should too. Don't kill anyone on your way back to the compound."

Itachi rolled his crimson eyes at the Hokage, and started towards the compound.

The Family, minus Itachi, but including Kakashi and Anko, were in the compound's amphitheater, having a meeting to discuss Itachi's actions an hour ago.

Kakashi had a serious look on his face, and the Family could tell that he wasn't happy.

"I hope none of you are ever as stupid as Itachi," Kakashi said. "Don't attack your comrades was something we taught you a long time ago."

"Itachi doesn't see ANBU as comrades, though," Kabuto said. "Although, a lot of what he said wasn't exactly wrong." Kabuto had a pained look on his face, as did Hinata.

Temari couldn't stand it any longer. "What exactly did the ANBU do to you?" Sakura and Gaara leaned forward, also interested.

Kabuto looked down and said, "Some of what Itachi said was true. Kakashi-sensei was rough on us, but it was actual training, and it's not like he abused us. But the ANBU…"

Hinata picked up where Kabuto stopped speaking. "The ANBU did abuse us. They abused Itachi and Kabuto physically, and abused me emotionally."

"That's horrible," Sakura said, concern in her voice.

"Some people are simply like that," Gaara said. "But that doesn't make it right."

"But Itachi got the worst of it," Kabuto continued. "The ANBU never left him alone. Probably because he was kind of cocky. Most of the ANBU thought of us as little monsters. They didn't really think that we were the kind of shinobi who should protect the village."

Temari got an angry look on her face and hissed, "Bullcrap."

"In any event," Kakashi said, drawing attention back to himself. "Itachi won't be participating in the last part of the Jonin Exams."

"He's been disqualified?" Gaara asked.

"No," Kakashi answered swiftly. "The Hokage is going to promote him based on the fight she just saw. Completing the Jonin Exams won't be necessary for him. Now we just have the rest of you to worry about."

"And before you get any bright ideas," Anko interrupted, "we probably won't let you pass if you beat up an ANBU."

The Family got a slight chuckle out of that. There was a lot of tension today, and they all needed something to laugh about.

Itachi then walked through the door into the amphitheater and took his usual spot next to Temari.

Everyone waited for him to say something. He did not. Temari was the first to lose her patience and break the silence. "Well?"

"Apparently," Itachi said, "I'm a Jonin now."

Slight cheers went up around the room. Kakashi breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Everyone is dismissed," Kakashi said. Everyone started to file out of the amphitheater, but Kakashi grabbed Itachi's shoulder. "Everyone except you."

"What is it?" Itachi asked.

"First off," Kakashi said, then punched Itachi in the jaw, knocking him to the floor. "Was that. If you ever do anything so stupid ever again, you'll be unconscious for a week."

Itachi picked himself up off of the floor. He didn't doubt what Kakashi said. Unlike most people, he'd seen most of what the elite shinobi could do.

"Secondly," Kakashi continued, "If Tsunade promoted you, I was assigned to give you this." Kakashi handed Itachi a mission scroll.

"What's the mission?" Itachi asked as he took the scroll.

Kakashi shrugged. "You're a Jonin now. I don't read your missions anymore."

Itachi narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You already know, don't you?"

"Maybe," Kakashi said with another shrug.

Itachi unrolled the scroll and read the characters. After a few moments, his eyes widened. When he was finished reading, he sighed and brought out a cigarette, lighting up and taking a long drag.

"So?" Kakashi asked.

"Like you don't already know. You're the mission leader."

"Humor me. I want to make sure you actually read it."

"You, Anko, Temari and I are supposed to go to the Hidden Mist Village while they have the annual Mist Ceremony. We will be disguised as two happily married noble families, while we actually investigate the Water country's intentions towards the Fire country."

"Good. This mission is much more important than the scroll makes it seem. There have been reports that the Daymio of Water country is acting strangely towards us. We need to find out why. Quickly."

"I don't particularly like the idea of posing as a noble family. Especially with Temari supposedly my wife. I don't think she'll like it either."

"Too bad. This mission is too important to cater to your wants."

"I understand." Itachi took another drag on his cigarette. "What about Temari? When are you telling her?"

"Tsunade-sama said that she would immediately promote Temari-chan to Jonin if her battle in the tournament goes well. We can depart once she finishes her fight. Until then, don't say anything to her. I don't want her to be stressed."

Itachi nodded his agreement. "What about everyone else?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Tsunade-sama will give them various missions while we are away. Our mission will take at least two weeks."

Itachi groaned. "Two weeks? We could be doing so much more than taking a vacation in that time."

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "But our mission is more important than any other. Get over it."

"Yeah, yeah."

To be continued…

I feel like it took me forever to get this up and posted. As always, please leave a review. Feel free to leave any sort of criticism. Even if you think my fanfic sucks leave a review!


	13. Jonin Tournament

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Not the series, not the universe, not the characters.

**Jonin Tournament **

Before long, the day of the last part of the Jonin Exam arrived. The Family, minus Itachi, made their way to the waiting area. The waiting area overlooked the arena, where thousands of villagers sat in their seats, wanting a good fight. Kabuto looked at the tournament list once more.

Gaara would fight first, then Hinata, then Temari, then himself, and finally Sakura. Kabuto once more breathed a sigh of relief. The Hokage had promised them that if they did well enough in their first fights, they wouldn't have to fight each other. That was the last thing anyone in the family wanted. The Hokage had decided that the only member of the family that would have to fight again was Hinata, because their was an odd number of contestants, and one of their opponents was lucky enough to not have to fight in the first round.

Their opponents looked confident. Of course, their opponents didn't know who they were dealing with. Kabuto wondered about their combat levels, but pushed it out of his mind. The Family would all win their first matches, then become Jonin. They had to.

* * *

Tsunade walked towards the center of the arena, with Kakashi and Anko following behind her. "Attention everyone!" Tsunade yelled in a booming voice. The entire audience froze and looked towards Tsunade.

"For the last part of the Jonin Exam, we will hold a tournament style melee between the remaining contestants," Tsunade shouted. "But we have a little surprise for the contestants."

Itachi sitting in the stands as one of the crowd, thought to himself, The unexpected detail, huh?

The Hokage, Anko, and Kakashi all jumped into the stands from their spot in the arena. Kakashi began to make hand signs. When he finished he said, "Water Element: Hidden Spring Technique!"

A rumbling was heard under the ground, and seconds later, water erupted from the center of the arena. A huge spring began to fill the arena full of water, not to mention getting the closer spectators a little wet.

When the arena was completely filled with water, Tsuande shouted, "The contestants entire battle must take place on this watery environment. Let the tournament begin!"

The audience cheered, excited by the surprise. The first two contestants, Gaara and a man from Mist came out and jumped down to stand on the water. They took their places, and Kakashi, apparently the proctor, said "Begin!" and jumped back.

Gaara didn't move, and waited for the Mist shinobi to attack. After several moments, Gaara said, "Aren't you going to attack me? Or are you just going to stand there all day?" hoping to goad the Mist shinobi into attacking.

The shinobi looked at Gaara funnily for a moment before saying, "I could say the same thing to you. But I'll go ahead and attack. They did me a favor filling the arena with water. It makes my attacks much easier to use."

The Mist shinobi began to make hand signs and said, "Water Element: Waterfall Daggers!" Water around the shinobi rose around him and formed into dozens of watery daggers, all razor sharp. The daggers sped towards Gaara who easily blocked them with his Sand Shield.

"Is that all you can do?" Gaara asked, clearly not concerned.

"Not by a long shot," the shinobi answered. He made some hand signs and formed around a dozen water clones. The clones ran at Gaara, who easily dispatched them by manipulating his sand and beating the clones with an arm of sand.

The shinobi had just finished some more hand signs and a watery dragon emerged from the water in the arena. The dragon rushed towards Gaara, who was inside a sphere of sand, waiting for the attack. The dragon hit the sphere and it went under the water. Gaara's sphere resurfaced soon though, and he began to manipulate his sand around the dragon's head. Once there was enough sand, Gaara closed his fist and said, "Desert Coffin." Sand crushed the dragon's head in a watery explosion, and the rest of the dragon dissolved.

The Mist shinobi however, had finished another technique. "Water Element: Crushing Splash!"

The water around Gaara jumped towards him as four watery tentacles. Gaara was over taken by the water, and his body floated upside down in the arena's water, apparently unconscious.

The Mist ninja smiled in victory until Gaara's body began to crack and turn into sand, which dissolved in the water. Before the shinobi could react, sand held his legs and arms, and was rapidly gathering around the rest of his body. After a few more moments, he was completely covered in sand, unable to move.

Gaara appeared behind the shinobi and said, "You saw what I did to your dragon. Surrender now, or that will happen to you." Gaara held out his open hand, waiting for the shinobi's answer.

The Mist shinobi's head was all that was left visible. He slowly nodded his head and said, "I surrender," then bowed his head in resignation.

* * *

Hinata walked on the water of the arena, taking her fighting stance. The stance of the Gentle Fist. Her opponent stood before her and held a large katana almost as tall as he was. She heard that those kind of swords were popular in the Mist Village. She'd even read something about the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, who all wielded huge swords.

Her opponent had a shaved head and a muscular looking body. The Mist shinobi before her suddenly broke the silence and spoke. "They say it's polite to give someone your name before a battle. I'm Ukakki. Pleased to meet you."

Hinata bowed her head slightly and said, "I'm Hinata."

Ukakki bowed his head slightly and said, "Let's try to make this fight worth it."

Kakashi, seeing that the conversation was over, said, "Begin the match!" and jumped away from the combatants.

Hinata activated her byakugan ran towards Ukakki. Ukakki drew his giant katana and swung at Hinata, who deftly jumped over the slash and kicked at Ukakki. Ukakki got his sword up in time to block the kick with the flat edge of the katana. The opponents jumped several feet back from each other.

Ukakki ran towards Hinata, swinging his giant sword. Hinata dodged his attacks again and again, but couldn't get close enough to Ukakki to use her taijutsu. She continued dodging the giant katana, and jumped back to get some room.

…Only to be met by a water clone of Ukakki. The clone slashed at Hinata and almost hit her, but she jumped in the air at the last minute, then brought her foot down on the clone's shaved head. The clone dispersed, but by then, Ukakki was close enough to begin attacking again.

Hinata let herself fall into the water to avoid Ukakki's slash, then tried to swim under him before being intercepted by three sharks made of chakra. The sharksrammed Hinata, pushing her deeper into the water.

Hinata tried to swim past the sharks, but they kept pushing her down deeper into the water, and whenever she tried to destroy them, they regenerated. Eventually, she reached the bottom. The sharks circled her, making sure she didn't try to swim to the surface.

Out of options, Hinata closed her eyes and concentrated. After a few minutes of concentration, she shot a large beam of chakra from her palm into the sharks, disintegrating them. The beam of chakra continued, speeding towards the surface.

On the surface, Ukakki noticed a green glow coming from under the water. He didn't have very long to ponder about it before the beam of chakra hit him. The chakra went through his body, damaging several organs. Ukakki fell over in the water as Hinata climbed onto the surface.

Kakashi grabbed Ukakki before he fell farther into the water. Kakashi examined him, then said, "Ukakki is unable to continue. The winner is Hinata!" The crowd cheered loudly, celebrating the victory.

* * *

Temari walked onto the watery arena and eyed her opponent. The kid was from the Hidden Mist Village. He held two swords, a katana and a wazikashi. He had an odd look in his eye, almost as if he was starving for battle.

Temari spoke, breaking the silence. "In the last match your friend said it was polite to give your name before a battle, right? I'm Temari."

The shinobi looked as though he wouldn't answer, but then said, "You can call me Kira."

Kakashi announced that the fight could start and jumped away. Kira ran towards Temari, who was already swinging her fan.

"Cutting Whirlwind!" Temari yelled as she swung her fan at Kira. A cutting gust of wind blew towards Kira, pushing him back a few feet.

Kira sheathed his swords and began to make hand signs. "Water Breathing Technique!" he shouted as he dove into the water. Kira swam in the water under Temari and tried to stab her from below. Temari jumped out of the way of Kira's swords and swung her fan at Kira, but he ducked under the water before the cutting winds could hit him.

Temari "tsked" and landed back on the water. _How am I going to win this one?_ She thought to herself. Kira tried to stab at her again, and again she jumped out of the way. But this time a clone of Kira was waiting to attack her. The clone jumped out of the water, swinging its swords, but Temari merely swung her fan, and let the cutting winds kill the clone.

Temari realized that she only had a few options: She could wait until Kira ran out of chakra and had to resurface; She could try and flush him out of the water; or she could try and attack him while he was still underwater. She ruled out the first choice. Who knows how long that could take. She ruled out the second choice as well. She didn't think that was likely to work. So that left only her third choice.

Temari bit her thumb and was about to make hand signs when Kira jumped out of the water and attacked her again. She was slower this time; Kira's sword actually tore her sleeve.

Temari jumped back and Kira jumped completely out of the water, making hand signs. "Water Element: Giant Vortex Technique!" Kira yelled as water swirled around him. The water turned into a giant vortex of water that shot towards Temari.

Temari nearly swore as she made hand signs, then swung her fan at the oncoming whirlpool. A weasel appeared in a cloud of smoke, carrying a large scythe. The weasel soared through the air, creating an even more powerful cutting gust of wind.

The water and wind collided and managed to cancel each other out. Kira began to make more hand signs, but a gust of wind caught him and threw him into the air.

Temari swung her fan, molding the cutting wind into a tornado, trapping Kira. The gusts of wind slashed and cut Kira, injuring him. After a few more minutes, Temari ended the tornado, and Kira fell into the water.

Kakashi grabbed Kira and checked him. "Kira is unconscious, Temari is the winner!"

To be continued

**

* * *

**

Sorry this chapter took so long for me to get out, but school sucks. XD I'll try to get the next chapter out faster and try to make it longer too.

I thought this chapter went pretty well. Sure, the fights weren't as long as Itachi's, but that was against an ANBU. As always, please leave me a review. All criticisms are welcome, even if you think this fanfic sucks.

And, just in case you were wondering, that "name before battle" thing was a nod to another of my favorite anime/mangas, Bleach. And cough spell Ukakki's name backwards cough.


	14. Beginning of the Mission

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Darn.

READ ME FIRST!

To all of you who actually read this fanfic, I'm terribly sorry I haven't updated in forever. I've just been really lazy. But, out of a need to justify my laziness to all of you, I shall explain what exactly I have been writing. The main reason I haven't updated in forever is that I have been writing a short story for a contest. If anyone wants to read this short story, please leave a review that says you want it emailed to you and your email address. You can also send me a PM asking for it.

But now, on to the actual fanfic.

* * *

Kabuto walked into the arena filled with water. His opponent wore an Earth headband. He was well built, tall, and looked as though he would kill a kitten if given the chance.

Kabuto pushed up his glasses and sighed. He just wanted to get this battle over with. He moved his head from side to side, popping his neck. Kakashi looked at both opponents to make sure they were ready then yelled, "Begin!" and jumped away.

The Earth nin started running towards Kabuto as fast as he could. Kabuto began backing up and made a chakra scalpel in his left hand. The Earth nin closed in on Kabuto and punched the medic in the face. Kabuto recovered quickly, then tried to hit the Earth nin with his scalpel. The ninja deftly jumped back a few feet.

Kabuto Stood still for a moment, trying to catch his breath. "I though you weren't supposed to hit guys with glasses." Kabuto said after a moment.

The ninja remained silent, but had a smug look on his face. Kabuto scowled then created another scalpel in his right hand and rushed the Earth ninja. Kabuto slashed at the Earth Ninja repeatedly, and the ninja dodged every attack. Then, the Earth nin kicked Kabuto in the gut, throwing him off balance. The Earth nin followed up with a dozen punches, cracking Kabuto's glasses, before kicking Kabuto several feet away.

Kabuto got up and took off his glasses, examining them. Both lenses were cracked greatly. He'd have to get a new pair. Kabuto's wounds and bruises were already starting to heal, thanks to his regenerative ability. He sighed, and looked up at the Earth nin, who was in a fighting stance. "I get it now. You're a taijutsu expert, aren't you?"

The ninja remained silent.

"I see," Kabuto said. "What you don't understand, is that, by breaking my glasses, you've made me upset."

In the stands, Itachi had a large smirk on his face. This Earth nin was going to lose horribly.

Kabuto crushed the remains of his glasses into a million tiny shards, which each started to fall to the water. The Earth nin was confused. But then, something amazing happened. Each shard lit up with the blue glow of chakra, and began to hover in the air. Then each and every shard of glass rushed towards the Earth nin at amazing speeds. He didn't have the time to think about dodging. The shards cut him and dug into his flesh, causing an enormous amount of pain.

Kabuto appeared behind the Earth nin and hit his arms and legs with his scalpels, cutting muscle tendons so that the ninja couldn't move. "Ho…How?" the ninja managed to get out his first word of the match.

Kabuto began to explain. "I put a lot of chakra into my glasses so that my glasses have some…special properties. One of those properties is that when I crush my glasses, the shards will race towards the chakra of the last person to touch them that wasn't me."

The Earth ninja's eyes looked as though they would pop out any minute. He was bleeding out of what mush have been a hundred tiny wounds. Kakashi walked over and said, "The winner is Kabuto!" and the crowds began to cheer.

* * *

Sakura stepped onto the watery battlefield and sized up her opponent. Another Iwa ninja. This guy was huge. The last Iwa nin had been pretty large, but this one stood at least a half a meter above Sakura. Everything about him was huge. He looked as though he could snap a tree in half without even breaking a sweat. But Sakura wasn't worried. She could do that too.

Kakashi checked to see if both opponents were ready. He then said, "Begin!" and jumped back.

The Iwa nin had a smug look on his face, and said in a cocky tone, "Hey, little girl. If I break your arm or leg, you won't hold it against me, right?"

Sakura smiled and answered. "As long as you don't hold it against me if I do the same to you."

The big ninja laughed a large booming laugh. "Heh. I like you, little girl. You have spunk." The ninja then started to run towards Sakura and began to swing his heavy fists.

Sakura dodged most of his clumsy, but powerful swings. Her medic training with Tsunade had give her a superior ability to dodge, but she could practically feel the ninja's physical strength.

Sakura dodged another punch, then decided to go on the offensive. She gathered chakra in her fist, then punched the Iwa nin in the face and released the gathered chakra. The result was the strongest punch the Iwa nin had ever felt. Sakura's fist smashed the Iwa nin's face and he fell on his back on the water. He maintained chakra control though, so he didn't sink.

The Iwa nin got up and felt his jaw. "I have to hand it to you. You've got one heck of a punch." He then rushed towards Sakura much faster than she thought he was.

Sakura jumped back, trying to get some room between her and the Iwa nin, but he appeared behind her. He joined his hands above his head and brought them down on top of Sakura. An explosion of water followed, and when the water stopped, Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, Sakura jumped out of the water behind the Iwa nin and hit him with a spin kick to his knee. The Iwa ninja's leg gave out, and he fell to his knees. Sakura continued her assault of chakra-powered blows by elbowing the Iwa ninja in the back, then punching him in the back of the head. The Iwa nin groaned in pain.

Sakura took the opportunity to focus all of her chakra into a single fist. She punched the ninja, releasing the massive amount of chakra. The Iwa nin went flying towards the opposite wall of the arena where he landed with a resounding boom. The wall was cracked and broken as the Iwa nin pushed himself off the wall and tried to stand up and fight.

It became quickly apparent that the Iwa ninja was losing the fight to keep hold of consciousness as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he started to sink into the water. Kakashi was there to keep the ninja from drowning and said, "The winner is Sakura!" and the crowd began to cheer again.

* * *

_1 day later… _

Itachi took a long drag on his cigarette. He was lounging on the grass of the ANBU compound's training area. Kakashi, Anko, Temari, and he were supposed to leave for the Hidden Mist village today. Itachi rolled his crimson eyes as he thought of the mission.

It was really annoying to have to sneak into enemy territory to spy on them. And, of course, he and Temari would have to act like they were married. Joy.

Itachi smirked as he thought of Temari's expression when she heard the mission. She'd be furious.

Itachi was roused from his musing when he heard footsteps on the grass of the training area. He turned his head upwards, where, from his point of view, everything was upside down. He saw an upside down Kakashi heading his way.

Kakashi walked over to Itachi and sat down next to him.

Itachi saw the opportunity for a jab and couldn't resist. "You know, for the strongest ninja in the village, you walk really loudly."

Kakashi's response was a punch to Itachi's gut. Itachi moaned in pain as he got punched, and curled into the fetal position.

"Are you ready for the mission?" Kakashi asked.

Itachi uncurled himself and said, "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Do you have all of your clothes packed?"

Itachi rolled his eyes. That was another part of this mission he hated. While they were in Hidden Mist, they had to wear formal kimonos. "Yes, mother, I'm all packed."

Kakashi decided to not respond to Itachi's insult. They sat in silence for a moment before Itachi said, "So what is it? I know you didn't come out here to make sure I had all my clothes packed. If I didn't have them packed, you'd make me go naked."

Kakashi sighed. "You always did catch on too quick."

"So what is it?"

"Itachi, there are more dangerous people out there than the Hidden Mist shinobi."

"So?" Itachi asked, not seeing where this was going.

"There is a group of S-ranked criminals called Akatsuki. They named themselves after the group that the original Itachi was a part of. Of course, they wear black coats with red clouds on them."

"Once again, so?"

"Akatsuki wants you and the family, Itachi."

Now Itachi's interest was peaked. No one hurt his family. "How dangerous are they?"

"They are roughly on my level."

"Kakashi no one is on your level."

"Slightly below my level then. But the leader is a match for me."

"Where did they come from?"

"Every one of them came from Konoha."

The importance of that statement hit Itachi like a 100 pounds of bricks. "What?"

"Eight of our most promising shinobi left the village and formed this group."

"Why?"

"No one really knows. Some think they hated Konoha so much they just left."

"So if they came from Konoha, you must know them, right?"

Kakashi's face suddenly looked downcast. "No, I don't know any of them."

Itachi took a drag on his cigarette and blew out smoke. "What exactly are they doing?"

"Killing Konoha shinobi."

Before the conversation could go on any longer, Temari and Anko bounded onto the training area and Anko yelled, "Hey! There will be plenty of time for male bonding later! We have to get a move on!"

Kakashi and Itachi got up while Itachi said, "Your woman is a control freak."

"You have no idea." Kakashi grumbled.

* * *

An hour later, Temari, Itachi, Kakashi, and Anko were riding in a carriage. Since they were supposed to be noble families, only the best would do. The inside of the carriage was roomy enough for all four of them, and stuffed with lavish luxuries only the wealthy could afford.

Itachi and Temari were sitting on a couch and Kakashi and Anko were sitting on the couch directly across from them. The couches were supposed to pull out into two beds, but they would reach Hidden Mist before night. Supposedly, their horses were the fastest in the Fire Nation.

They were all dressed in their formal kimonos. Itachi was about to scratch off his arm because his kimono was so itchy. The kimono was a dark shade of blue and had a beautiful design of a dragon on it. Temari's kimono was a yellow color that complimented her blonde hair and had designs of what Itachi presumed were desert lilies.

Kakashi seemed to have no itchy problem with his kimono. If he did, he hid his discomfort well. Kakashi's kimono was black with designs of a ferocious tiger on it. Anko had obviously wanted to impress when she picked out her kimono. There was no base color on the kimono. Rather, there were so many flowers with all the colors of the rainbow on it.

Kakashi had his arm draped around Anko and was whispering into her ear. Every once in a while, Anko would giggle and/or hit him softly. Itachi and Temari, on the other hand, were trying to keep as much space as possible between them.

Kakashi stopped whispering to Anko for a minute and said, "Itachi, you'll have to deactivate your sharingan now."

Itachi sighed and nodded with resignation. He couldn't keep his sharingan active because it would give their cover away. "What about your mask?" Itachi asked Kakashi.

"I have an embarrassing scar on my mouth," explained Kakashi. "so I get to keep my mask."

"Can't I just have scars in my eyes?" Itachi asked, his voice laden with sarcasm.

"Now, Itachi."

Temari piped in and said, "You're actually going to deactivate your sharingan? I never thought I'd see the day." Temari turned her body around to actually face Itachi. "I want to see this."

Itachi rolled his crimson eyes at her and then closed them. When he opened his eyes again, they were dark pools of obsidian that had a depth to them.

Temari stared at Itachi's true eyes for a solid minute. She then said, "I kind of like your true eyes."

"Take a good long look then," Itachi said. "because as soon as this mission is over, my eyes are staying as the sharingan forever. Those eyes are my true eyes now."

Temari leaned back, getting comfortable. "Oh? Why is that? Why do you have to use the sharingan all the time?"

Itachi's new dark eyes turned downcast, and he only said a few words. "Once, I could have prevented something if I'd had the sharingan then."

Temari waited for more, but Itachi didn't continue. "Well? Is that all you're going to tell me?" An annoyed look crossed her face.

"That's all you're going to hear." Itachi said.

Temari looked annoyed but started another conversation. "Itachi, when you fought that ANBU…what exactly happened to you?"

Itachi knew Temari was refferring to when he'd activated his curse seal. "I'll tell you the story if you stop asking me questions."

Temari took on a new face, this one showing pure irritation. "Fine, Touchy-san. So tell me."

Itachi looked contented by her admission, so he began. "When I was younger, a bunch of jerks decided to put a curse seal on me. There was a 9/10 chance I would die, and a 1/10 chance that I would actually survive. But the jerks were confident that the power of the seal would corrupt me, or some such like that."

Temari looked slightly impressed. "So you proved them wrong?"

"They didn't live long enough for them to see me do it."

"How did they die?"

Itachi merely pointed at Kakashi, who was whispering in Anko's ear again. "Just hope your never on the receiving end of Kakashi."

"How powerful is he, really?"

"I've never seen him fight at full power."

Temari looked a little unsettled by that. She was about to continue with her line of questions when Itachi held up a hand to stop her. "You promised not to ask any more questions, remember? You've already broken that promise twice. Its your turn to tell me something. Like why they called you the Desert Rose in Suna?"

A slight red blush began to claw its way across Temari's face. Itachi chuckled at the sight. "It's always fun watching you blush."

Unfortunately for Temari, that only made her blush harder. She tried to hide her face from Itachi, but even without the sharingan, his eyes were keen. "Your face can't possibly get any redder." Itachi said with a chuckle.

Temari couldn't stand it any longer and took out her small fan and began to beat Itachi with it. Although it was ten times smaller than the one she normally used for this purpose, it did its job well.

When she was done mauling Itachi, she huffily asked, "Who told you that?"

Itachi began rubbing his new bruises and said, "Kakashi! Why couldn't we have gotten Hinata or Sakura to do this part? Surely they would have been more civilized than Temari!"

"Ha! I know more about elegance and manners than you ever will!" Temari retorted.

"Well here's a hint: you should start showing those good qualities every once in a while!" Itachi snapped back.

Temari grabbed Itachi's kimono and said, "Who told you that they called me the Desert Rose in Suna?"

Itachi pushed Temari off of him, but not hard. He then shrugged. "I had a mission there a little while ago. Someone on the street mentioned the name, and I knew you fit their description perfectly." Itachi said with a wry smile.

Itachi went on, scratching his head as if trying to remember. "Let's see, what was the description? Oh yeah. A girl as beautiful as a rose, but she had thorns that kept anyone around her careful not to get pricked. Sounds just like you."

Temari's face was still red. "Well, what do you know?" she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

Itachi tried to commit the sight of Temari at that moment to memory. He had never seen her this embarrassed. It was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.

"Look," Itachi said, scooting somewhat closer to Temari. "I didn't mean any offense. I just wanted to know what you thought of the name." Itachi swallowed and tried to get up the courage to say something. "Truth be told, I thought it was kind of…cute."

Temari watched Itachi as he forced the word out. A few moments later, she was laughing. Itachi watched her as she lost complete control. One thought floated through his mind. _She's finally gone insane._

After a minute, Temari stopped laughing and explained her merriment. "Your such a terrible liar." She said through giggles.

Itachi sighed. This would be a long mission…

* * *

To be continued

Once again, I'm so sorry it took me this long to update. I feel like a turd for getting the chapter out this late. As always, please leave me a review. All criticisms are welcome. I would really love to give you guys the short story I was working on, so please tell me if you want to read it. The title of it is _War and Love._


	15. Infiltration

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. This is extremely annoying to do every chapter.

Infiltration

The noble-looking wagon carrying Temari, Itachi, Kakashi, and Anko winded through the roads of the Water Country. It was dark and late at night now. They had almost reached their destination.

Inside the wagon, Itachi woke from a cozy slumber. He had to remind himself to not activate his sharingan. He glanced around the interior of the wagon and saw that Anko was soundly sleeping, leaning against Kakashi, who was reading a lecherous-looking book. He suddenly realized that there was a weight against him and glanced to his side. He got an eyeful of rough, sandy hair.

Temari had fallen asleep, and like Anko, had leaned on the person nearest to her. Itachi rolled his eyes and tried not to wake her by moving. He had no doubts he would suffer her wrath if he did.

He looked at Kakashi and said, "Kakashi, what you were talking about earlier…Akatsuki?"

Kakashi looked up from his book and leveled his gaze towards Itachi. "What about them?"

"You said they were killing Konoha shinobi. Why?"

Kakashi shrugged. "No one really knows. They apparently do some high ranked missions for some countries and make enough money to live in luxury. Maybe some of their missions have them kill these shinobi."

"Who are the shinobi they kill?"

"Just Konoha shinobi. They really aren't related in any way."

Itachi chewed on this for a minute then said, "Well, why do they want the Family?"

Kakashi sighed, like he really didn't want Itachi to know this. "The leader was one of the shinobi scientists who worked on your creations. He probably sees you as his children. He was a major contribution to your creation."

"So, he wants us to join him?"

"I guess, but I'm not really sure."

Itachi pulled out a cigarette, trying very hard to not wake up Temari. With some difficulty, he lit the cigarette and began to inhale.

* * *

Their wagon arrived in Hidden Mist later that night. They were escorted by Hidden Mist shinobi to the inn where all the Festival guests were supposed to stay.

They were escorted to their rooms. Since they were pretending to be married couples, Kakashi and Anko had one room and Itachi and Temari had another.

Temari was still rubbing her eyes, as she had just woken up when they arrived. Their escorts said farewell and left the "couple" alone. Itachi opened the door to their room, looking forward to sleeping on a soft bed. It was then he discovered that his and Temari's room only had one bed.

Itachi quickly did some math in his head. There were two people but one bed. The result couldn't be good. Temari pushed him into the room and walked past him, saying, "If you aren't going in, I am…"

Temari stopped and looked at the single bed. "Why is there only one bed?"

Itachi sighed. When Kakashi said 'pretending to be a married couple' Itachi hadn't thought the act would go this far. "I guess we're supposed to share the bed."

Temari didn't look happy about that. "No one told me we were going to share a bed!"

"Keep your voice down," Itachi said. "Besides, there's no helping it. The only was we wouldn't share the bed is if one of us slept on the floor." On reflection, Itachi wished he hadn't said that.

Temari got an evil look on her face. "I guess you could use all of the covers as a mattress…"

Itachi's mouth fell open. "No way. I'm not sleeping on the floor."

"Well, we're not sharing the bed and I'm not sleeping on the floor, so that leaves only one option." Temari said, putting on an innocent face.

Itachi rolled his obsidian eyes. "Look, I'll sleep on top of the covers and you can sleep under, okay?"

Temari sighed and said, laughing, "Fine. I guess that's as close as I'll get to defending my chastity."

Itachi again rolled his eyes and playfully pushed the now laughing Temari onto the bed. He bent over to pick up his suitcase, and retrieved a pair of pajama pants. He went into the bathroom to change, and when he came back out, Temari was also getting her sleeping clothes, waiting for the bathroom.

Itachi lied on the bed, and a minute later, Temari came out of the bathroom in pajama pants and a loose-fitting tee shirt. She hesitantly got onto the large bed, next to Itachi, trying to put as much space between them as possible. She gave him a glare and said, "Try and grope me while I sleep, and I'll cut off your hand."

Itachi rolled his dark eyes and said, "It's like I have no honor at all." He sighed. "I need a cigarette."

* * *

When Itachi woke up, he realized that he had a problem. The problem was not, in fact, that he had tried to grope Temari and was now missing a hand. The problem was not that he was trying to take off her shirt or anything like that. The problem was, in fact, that Temari was not a peaceful sleeper.

As Itachi opened his dark eyes to the world, reminding himself to not activate his sharingan, he realized that the warm covering that he thought was a blanket was, surprisingly, Temari's arm and leg.

During the night, Temari had managed to swing one of her legs over Itachi's stomach, and one of her arms was casually draped around Itachi's lower neck. Itachi then realized just how close Temari was, and that only a few inches separated their bodies.

Itachi berated himself for thinking that such a rowdy person would be a peaceful sleeper. He tried not to panic. He knew that if Temari woke up, and saw their current arrangement, she'd somehow blame him.

Itachi carefully picked up Temari's arm and laid it next to her side. Her leg would be a little more challenging. Itachi placed his hands on the underside of her leg, carefully trying to note any difference in Temari's breathing.

Temari then turned over, taking her leg with her, releasing Itachi from his fleshly prison. Itachi hurriedly got out of the bed, afraid he'd get snared again.

* * *

Itachi, Temari, Anko, and Kakashi were driven to a large ballroom, where all of the visitors from various countries were during the day. The ballroom was a huge structure, colored with varying shades of blue, and with several Hidden Mist emblems on the inside and outside. The roof of the ballroom was at least several dozen feet high, Itachi decided, and curved. A mural was also painted onto the entire ceiling, comprising of beautiful designs of undersea life, with many different kinds of sea creatures. In the center of the ceiling were seven sharks, arranged in a circle, each holding a large sword in its mouth. Itachi guessed that the sharks were a reference to the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

There were many tables and chairs in the ballroom and many nobles were already seated and talking. The air was thick with conversation and gossip, and the sound bounced off of the ballroom walls. A band was constantly playing a ensemble of stringed instruments, and occasionally the visitors would hear the sound of a gong amidst the strings.

Kakashi and Anko seemed to know exactly where to go in the ballroom, and took off, leaving Temari and Itachi by themselves. Temari looked a little concerned, and said, "Where should we start?"

Itachi shrugged. "Any place will do, I guess." Temari took his arm, and they moved towards another couple.

"Hello, I'm Itachi, a noble of Fire Country, and this is my wife, Temari." Itachi said politely. He and Temari both gave a slight bow.

"Oh, hello there," said the man. "It's nice to meet you."

* * *

After several hours of pleasantries and subtly inquiring about the Hidden Mist village, Itachi, Temari, Kakashi, and Anko all met up back at the inn, in Kakashi and Anko's room.

"We found out that Hidden Mist has been gathering more weapons. Shipments have been going to Hidden Mist like crazy." Kakashi said.

Itachi shrugged and huffed on a lit cigarette. "We didn't really find out anything like that, but the nobles from Water Country seemed skittish around us. None of them wanted to talk to us. When we did manage to talk to them, they kept it short and sweet."

"Well then, it looks like we have to go ahead with plan B." Anko said, bearing an evil grin.

"What's Plan B?" Temari asked.

"We sneak around at night and see what we can find." Kakashi said. "We brought a couple of ANBU suits for the purpose. But we'll only go one at a time. Stealth is key here, so we won't take any chances with more than one person."

* * *

They started Plan B that night. Kakashi went first, and came back around dawn. They attended the ballroom that day, and then Anko went out that night. Kakashi and Anko both came back bearing incriminating letters hinting of a possible attack on Konoha. Temari went out the next night and came back early in the morning, carrying another letter. Finally, it was Itachi's turn.

Itachi suited up in his ANBU suit, making sure to tie the mask in place. He activated his sharingan, now that no one could see his eyes, and to his surprise, the sharingan's activation brought a feeling of security and confidence.

"Be careful," Temari said. "They've probably upped security around here."

"I'll be fine," Itachi said. "As if any guards were a match for us."

Itachi leapt out the window, and began to jump from roof to roof. After a few minutes, he arrived at the building Kakashi had told him about, the local feudal lord's office. He carefully opened a window, and quietly sneaked in. He immediately sought out the darkest shadow he could find. Shadows were where a ninja operated.

Itachi crept through the halls of the building and made his way towards the office of the feudal lord. He opened the door, and checked the room for any guards. There were none. _Odd_, Itachi thought. _I haven't seen any guards yet_. Itachi started to walk towards the desk.

Suddenly, Itachi felt a tight grip around his feet and a sharp, biting pain on his ankles. He heard many things cutting into the air, and realized that the sharp things whizzing through the air were kunai, and currently hitting him. As he fell to his knees, he was hit in the back of the head, and the blackness of unconsciousness mercifully began to overtake him…

To be continued

This chapter is kind of short, but I really couldn't go any farther without getting into the next chapter. I had some fun writing this chapter, so I hope you guys get some kicks out of it.

As for Seeking-Truth-Darkness' questions, I will gladly answer. The reason I didn't include Naruto or Neji was basically because there is already a lot on those two. I mean Naruto is the main character of the series, and Neji has some good fight scenes too. I know you could argue that you see Sakura in the series a lot too, but there was no one else to fill that role. For a little while, I toyed with the idea of making a Tsunade clone, but I couldn't ever think of her as _not_ Hokage. I'll take my brownies now.


	16. Sealing

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**Sealing **

Itachi woke up groggily. His head was killing him, and he had the biggest headache of his life. His ankles were sore too. As he tried to move, Itachi realized that he was strapped to a chair, and that a needle was sticking out of his arm. Itachi struggled against his entrapment, but the straps were too strong. His mask and clothes were still on, but he thought that the mask would come off soon enough. He raised his head, trying to get a sense of his surroundings, but there was hardly any light in the room.

A door creaked open and light flooded into the room, but was then blocked by a figure. The figure closed the door, and the room went black again. Itachi heard footsteps coming towards him, then felt a fist hit his gut. Itachi groaned in pain.

"What's the matter? Can't take me when I'm not strapped up?" Itachi taunted.

"Big talk for someone who walked right into our trap." The figure said. A male voice, Itachi noted.

"Of course, that invisible wire did cost a small fortune," the man went on. "Not even a top ninja like yourself could detect it in the dark. It was worth it though, just to catch you."

Itachi made a snorting sound and said, "Hah! I'm not worth a small fortune. You got ripped off! So how did you know to set that trap?"

"After a few days of various letters and other documents going missing, we got suspicious. Who wouldn't?" The man said.

"It did take you this long to catch me though. I'm pretty proud it took that long." Itachi said.

"Boast all you want. It won't change the fact that we caught you." The man said. "By the way, in case you didn't notice, the needle in your arm is pumping a drug that screws up chakra into you. So even if you could use ninjutsu to escape, the drug would stop you."

Itachi frowned under his ANBU mask. That would make escaping a lot harder. "What exactly are you going to do to me? Execution?"

"Not exactly." The man said. "First, we'll figure out which noble you are pretending to be. That's the only way a ninja could slip in without our knowing it." The man removed Itachi's mask, then snorted with amusement.

"You're one of the little nobles from Konoha. Heh, We should've known. Only Konoha would send in ninjas during our festival."

"Like you water guys have never done it." Itachi said.

"At least we have some honor. Now what were you investigating?"

"We though the festival looked interesting, so we stole some stuff about the catering." Itachi said, right before the man's fist slammed into his face.

"Cute. What were you investigating?"

"I'll just tell you. The curtains were just so fabu—"

The man punched Itachi in the stomach again. "What were you looking for?"

"You realize I'm not going to tell you, right?"

"Yeah, I get that stubborn vibe from you." The man said. "Maybe we should just send Konoha a message."

"By killing me?" Itachi tried to sound hopeful, to freak the man out.

"No, not that kind of message. Another kind of message. After all, we can't kill one of the _nobles_ from Konoha."

"So what will you do?" Itachi asked, trying to not sound interested.

"That would ruin the surprise." The man said. He opened the door, once again flooding the room with light. "I'll get someone to get you some food and water."

* * *

When dawn rolled around, Itachi still hadn't returned to the inn. Temari was worried. She hadn't slept all night, waiting for Itachi to return. Kakashi and Anko had already went to bed, telling Temari not to worry, that Itachi could take care of himself. Temari walked into Kakashi and Anko's room. They were already awake and fully dressed in their formal kimonos.

Kakashi noticed Temari and said, "He's not back yet, huh?"

Temari shook her head. "I haven't seen him all night."

Kakashi sighed. "This is the last time he goes on reconnaissance."

"What are we going to do?" Temari asked, worry in her voice.

"Anko and I have to go to the festival and maintain the illusion that there is nothing wrong. You will pretend that Itachi is sick and you have to take care of him." Kakashi said.

"What about Itachi? Don't we have to look for him?" Temari asked.

"We can't really do anything until tonight, so just sit tight until Anko and I come back." Kakashi said.

Temari did sit. That was all she did for several hours. Sit and worry.

* * *

An hour or two after the man had left, the door opened again. Itachi heard the sound of footsteps and what sounded like squeaking wheels on a cart.

"Kaiden-sama told me to bring you food and water," said a female voice.

"How kind of him. See if you can convince him to let me out of these straps while he's at it." Itachi said. "Kaiden-sama, huh? Who is this guy? Mizukage?"

The woman brought a cup to Itachi's lips and slowly poured water down his throat. She answered, "Oh no, Kaiden-sama is not so powerful as that. But Kaiden-sama is an honored member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."

_One of the Seven, huh? I'm in deep crap,_ Itachi thought.

The woman gently pushed some bread into Itachi's mouth, and he eagerly bit into it. He might not have anything to eat for a while.

"How powerful is this Kaiden guy?" Itachi asked in between mouthfuls.

The woman's voice was filled with admiration as she said, "I believe that Kaiden-sama is the 2nd most powerful shinobi in the village."

_Real deep crap_, Itachi thought.

The woman finished feeding Itachi and wheeled her cart out of the door once more, leaving Itachi in darkness again.

* * *

The day passed slowly for Temari. She tried to read, but couldn't concentrate. She tried to cook something, but burned it. She tried to sleep, but was restless. In the end, Temari just sat on the bed, waiting for Kakashi and Anko to return.

Finally, the day came to an end, and Kakashi and Anko walked through Temari's door, in full ANBU uniform. Anko walked up to her and said, "Sorry Temari, but we only had these two extra uniforms. You have to stay here."

Temari jumped up. "What?! Shouldn't we all go? Regardless of how many uniforms there are?"

"Sometimes you need to be more stealthy than powerful. Kakashi and I have done many missions like this together. Let us handle it." Anko said in a comforting, almost motherly voice.

Temari sat down on the bed again, coping with the fact that she couldn't help save Itachi.

Kakashi and Anko jumped out the window, into the darkness.

* * *

Itachi valiantly tried to keep entertained while he was trapped. He tried to have some fun with various mental games. He tried to sing silly songs and rhymes in his head. He even tried to do math in his head. But a pitch black room was an easy place to be bored in.

Itachi was trying to stay awake because he didn't know what the drugs would do to his system if he fell asleep. Despite his best efforts though, he eventually dozed into an uninvited slumber.

After a few hours of dozing, Itachi awakened to someone slapping him on the face.

"Good morning." Said the familiar male voice. "Or evening, I guess. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been kidnapped by a Swordsman of the Mist named Kaiden." Itachi replied.

"Hmmm, I guess I shouldn't have sent her in to feed you. She's pretty talkative." Kaiden replied.

Itachi heard the footsteps move closer to him and felt a needle prick his arm. "A double dose?" Itachi asked.

"A different drug." Kaiden replied. "This one will temporarily paralyze your limbs."

"Why? I'm already strapped up."

"You're being moved, and I don't want any resistance."

"When did you guys get all these special drugs?" Itachi asked.

"There's no point in telling you."

Itachi slightly felt the straps being loosened and felt himself picked up. The door to his prison opened, and he was carried out of it. The room out side his prison was brightly lit, but mostly empty other than a few crates. There were no windows in the room. Itachi noticed that he was being carried to an odd looking circle. Kaiden placed him in the middle of the circle and stepped back.

Itachi looked over, for he could still control his neck, and looked at Kaiden for the first time. Kaiden was sitting on a crate, leaning on his knees. He had blue spiky hair, and had on blue pants and an open blue vest, revealing his chest. Kaiden was handsome, his face seeming a mix of seriousness and amusement. Itachi looked over and noticed a huge sword was next to Kaiden. The blade was easily 8 feet long, possibly more.

Footsteps approached Itachi, and he turned his head toward their direction. Another figure approached, similarly dressed to Kaiden. His face was covered in bandages and he carried a katana in a special looking scabbard.

"Meet Muzie." Kaiden said.

"A pleasure," Muzie said, nodding towards Itachi. His voice was raspy.

"You know what to do, right?" Kaiden asked Muzie.

"Of course. I've been waiting to test this technique for a while." Muzie replied. He proceeded to arranged Itachi's arms and legs just right. Muzie put kunai with special tags on the circle, then sat down and placed a scroll in front of himself.

"You see, Muzie is a sealing specialist." Kaiden said to Itachi, while Muzie began to make hand seals.

For a few dreadful minutes, Itachi could only hear Muzie making hand seals. Itachi feared that Muzie would be done any second. Just as Muzie was about to make the last few hand signs, a crash rang out.

All three men heard the crash, and Kaiden put his hand on the hilt of his huge sword. A moment later Kakashi and Anko ran into the room, both in ANBU suits and masks. Kaiden hefted his huge sword and charged the two while Muzie hastened to finish the sealing.

Hope restored in him, Itachi yelled out, "Kakashi, Anko, he's trying to—

Muzie then finished the sealing, and Itachi felt an incredible pain take hold of both of his arms, his hands in particular. The pain went on for several minutes. Itachi was vaguely aware that he was screaming the whole time. He sort of knew what was going on around him. He heard clashes of metal and grunts of pain.

Itachi felt himself picked up and slung over someone's shoulder, and carried for the longest time. The pain made him fall unconscious and he only regained consciousness for short periods of time. Once, he saw Temari's face. _Funny, she looks worried_. Once he woke up to the sound of horses' hooves beating the road. When he woke up the last time, he saw Anko's worried face, and her hands were glowing green. He could've swore he told someone he loved them, then heard a man's voice say, "…If he wasn't delirious, I'd punch him."

* * *

When Itachi finally woke from delirium and unconsciousness, he was in a hospital bed. As his eyes opened, he instinctively switched on the sharingan. He looked around the room and saw that his Family was there, every one of them. He wasn't fully awake yet, so he heard various "He's awake!" yells.

After many hugs, and a smack for being so stupid from Kakashi, the room grew silent. Kakashi told Itachi what happened after he passed out.

"Well, at least now, I'm alright." Itachi said, sighing. Everyone in the room was still silent.

"What's wrong?" Itachi asked, growing suspicious of his Family's silence.

Kakashi came forward and said, "Itachi, I don't know how to tell you this, but…well, just look at your hands.

Itachi turned his hands palm up and stared and them, and stared, and stared. In the middle of his palms were circles with characters around them.

"These are…" Itachi started to say, but couldn't finish.

Kakashi finished for him. "They are seals. Itachi, your hands have been sealed."

To Be Continued

Once again, sorry it took so long. Man, I'm starting to sound like a broken record. I'll try to get this fanfic updated earlier, but it seems like life has been throwing curveballs at me recently.

As always, please leave a review. Even if you think this story sucks, please let me know. I'd love some more feedback.


	17. Handicapped

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**Handicapped**

"Sealed?" Itachi uttered, unable to wrap his mind around what had happened to his hands. 

"Yeah," Kakashi said. "I've seen this type of seal before. It's extremely powerful, so I've never seen anyone able to unseal it. The seal makes you unable to focus chakra into your hands for a longer than a moment. Basically, you can't use hand signs anymore. You can still focus chakra into your hands, but only for a moment." 

"That can't be…" Itachi managed to mutter. "I can't use ninjutsu anymore?" 

"Or any technique that requires hand signs," Kakashi said. 

Itachi's crimson eyes looked down, emphasizing how depressed he was. He briefly looked up at everyone else in the room. His whole family looked upset by this. He wondered if their combined grief could compare to his. 

"What use am I then?" Itachi said after a few minutes of awkward silence. "I can't even make hand signs anymore." 

"Itachi, you aren't useless," Kakashi said. "All this means is that you'll have to train harder. You'll have to focus more on taijutsu training. You can still be a shinobi." 

Itachi met Kakashi's stare and saw the doubt in Kakashi's eyes. He hoped that Kakashi's words were truer than his eyes.

* * *

Itachi stayed in the hospital a few more days. Tsunade came by at various times to try and heal his hands, but it never worked. Since there was nothing physically wrong with him, he had to leave the hospital after a certain amount of time. 

When he got back to the compound, he started training his taijutsu heavily. Kakashi was right after all. The only way for him to still be a shinobi was to master taijutsu. He sparred with Hinata a lot since she was the resident taijutsu expert. He also began to try and open his body's chakra gates, and by the end of a month, he could open the first one.

Itachi woke and tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but it just didn't work. Once he woke up, he couldn't go back to sleep until night. He got out of bed and groggily walked into the bathroom. After Itachi took a shower he got dressed and walked outside his room. He looked up and down the halls, but no one else was awake yet. He shrugged. He couldn't really blame them. It was only 6 in the morning.

* * *

Itachi leaned back against the wall and took out a cigarette and lit up. He smoked for a few minutes, but smoking hadn't helped relieve his tension lately. 

Itachi heard Temari's door creak open, and glanced that way. Temari stood at the door, still in her pajamas. "I thought I smelled smoke." 

"Of course that leads you to me," Itachi said sarcastically. "It's not like the compound couldn't have been on fire." 

Temari walked towards him and leaned next to him on the wall. "How are you doing? You've been distant this past month." 

"Have I? Well, maybe losing your ability to use ninjutsu does that to you." Itachi said. 

Temari punched Itachi in the gut hard enough to make him groan a little. "Don't be a smart-aleck. I'm worried about you." 

"Worried? You?" Itachi feigned shock. "Wow, I must be pretty important to you."

Temari's cheeks blushed slightly for a moment, then she said, "It's not that. I just want to make sure you are as efficient as possible and that our Family is as strong as possible." 

"Oh, tactical appraisal, huh?" Itachi asked with a chuckle. "In that case, I'm at a 110 percent, sir." 

"Avoiding the question, eh?" Temari said with a giggle. "Sounds like insubordination, soldier."

Itachi chuckled and said, "I guess I'm just a little depressed. I can't use atechnique that uses hand signs, so that doesn't really leave me much." 

Itachi felt Temari's hand grasp his cool one, and he almost jumped at the contact. He looked over at her and saw reassurance in her green eyes. "You'll be fine. You'll come through this stronger than ever." 

Temari dropped his hand and Itachi felt a momentary pang of regret. "Tell me, Temari," Itachi began, "are you Suna guys still having trouble finding your way around the compound?" 

Temari's expression was all the answer that Itachi needed. He started to laugh right before Temari punched him.

* * *

Anko walked through one of the many hallways in the compound, heading towards the cafeteria. Once she reached the compound's dining area, she saw Itachi sitting at one of the tables, playing with his food. More specifically, rolling his peas around with his fork. 

She approached his table and sat down, distracting him from his peas. "Still down, huh?" 

"Wouldn't you be?" Itachi asked. His crimson eyes showed how depressed he was. 

"Kakashi told me you're advancing really fast in taijutsu. He says you're a natural." 

"Yet I'm still a novice at taijutsu." 

"You've only been training for a month." 

"I still haven't been sent on a mission of any importance. Just stuff an average chunnin could have done." 

"Tsunade-sama is giving you a break, a chance to recover." 

"Right. Or it could be that I'm useless, just like I said." 

Anko shook her head. "You know, there are ways to use summoning jutsu without the hand signs." 

Itachi's crimson eyes widened. "How?" 

Anko used a hand to support herself. "You have to get a tattoo of the summoning contract somewhere on your body. I suggest your arm. After that, its as simple as wiping blood on the contract and concentrating the chakra on your arm."

Itachi grinned. "You know any good tattoo artists?"

* * *

As Itachi repeatedly kicked a tree in the training area of the compound, Kakashi approached him. "You know:" Kakashi said. "Opening the chakra gates has its disadvantages. They do some major damage to your body."

"Well unless you have a better idea of how I should get stronger, I don't see any other way." Itachi said, as he paused in his training, breathing heavily. 

"Actually, I've been thinking about that." Kakashi said. 

"What did you come up with?" Itachi asked. 

"You and I need to go on a trip." 

"A trip?" 

"Just you and me. I'm going to train you in a pretty destructive art." 

"How long will we be gone?" 

Kakashi shrugged. "Maybe a month. Maybe longer. As long as it takes for you to master this technique." 

"What about the others?"

"They'll be fine. Anko can handle anything big." 

"When do we leave?" 

Kakashi tossed him a bag. "Now."

* * *

Sakura flipped the pages of the book she was currently reading. Well, more like scanning. She reached the end of the book and turned to Kabuto, who was also scanning a book. He had reached the back cover of his book. "Anything useful?" 

"Well, there was an interesting section about various poisons a ninja can use…but nothing about sealing." Kabuto answered. 

Sakura rested her head in her hands, and her pretty features distorted in frustration. She and Kabuto had been scanning every book in the ANBU compound's library in an attempt to hopefully find a way to unseal Itachi's hands. So far they had read countless pages and books, and still hadn't covered half of the medical section.

They'd been at it ever since Itachi and Kakashi left for "private training," which was about a week ago. Hinata and Gaara had been personally investigating different people who were sealing experts. So far, the most famous sealing expert was the person who sealed Itachi's hands in the first place: Muzie from Hidden Mist.

Countless books were piled on the library's floor, each of which had been carefully scanned for any relevant information. On the table Sakura and Kabuto sat at, a select few books had been deemed to have relevant information to sealing and unsealing. 

Kabuto got out of his chair and walked over to Sakura, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Don't give up. We'll find something. There has to be at least one thing in these books that will help Itachi." 

Sakura relaxed a little and her features returned to normal. "Yeah, you're right." Sakura noticed that Kabuto hadn't taken his hand off her shoulder yet. 

"You're tense," Kabuto said, and he began to gently massage Sakura's shoulders. "If you are very tense, its harder to concentrate." 

Sakura nodded. That was true, and Kabuto was a pretty good masseuse, so she decided to let herself be pampered for a minute. But just a minute.

* * *

Anko lounged in the chair of the Hokage's office, waiting for her turn to speak with Tsunade. Neji Hyuuga, the current head of the Hyuuga house was in front of the Hokage's desk listing off some complaints about something or other. Whenever Neji talked, Anko usually tried to tune him and his destiny crap out. 

"Yes, I agree, that might be dangerous." Tsunade said. "I'll make sure the Kumo shinobi are housed in a different inn, farther away from the Hyuuga house. You're right, Neji. They could try and kidnap one of your household's children again." 

"Thank you Tsunade-sama," Neji said, bowing slightly. Neji walked out, with his noble gait turned on, designed so that casual onlookers felt like they were beneath the Hyuuga. Most of the time, it worked. Anko stood up and walked in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Tsunade-sama, I have the report that you wanted." Anko said. 

"Please, tell me." Tsunade said, hands clasped in front of her face in a listening pose. 

"Itachi and Kakashi are currently on a trip together. Kakashi said it was to train Itachi. Before they left however, Itachi was still depressed." 

"Do you think he needs to be on anti-depressants?" 

"If his depression insists on remaining, it might be a possibility we need to consider. But I think he'll come back feeling better after he trains with Kakashi." 

Tsunade nodded. "I agree. But as for Akatsuki…our top spies know nothing about their current whereabouts. However, I think it is safe to say that they are closer to Konoha than we think." 

"Do you think the clones are in danger?" Anko said, a slight amount of worry in her voice.

"Not right now, no. But I think we should take precautions in the future. For now, just let the team go on their missions." Tsunade seemed to remember something then. "By the way, what about Hinata and Gaara?"

"The last messenger hawk they sent said that they hadn't found anyone who could help Itachi. At least not yet." 

Tsunade nodded grimly, "I don't think they will find anyone who can help. If _I_ couldn't do anything about the seals on Itachi's hands…I just don't think anyone else can."

Anko nodded. She knew that Tsunade was probably right.

* * *

Gaara walked behind Hinata. They were almost to the next town, and there was supposed to be a sealing expert here. The wind blew dirt and sand at them, and made Hinata's long ebony hair dance. 

They hadn't said much to each other on the long journeys from town to town, but it wasn't an awkward silence, like it would have been with most people. With them, the silence was comfortable. They were two of the quiet ones to begin with.

"Gaara…" Hinata began to say. Gaara turned his attention towards her, waiting for the rest. "I wanted to think you for helping me find theses people who could help Itachi. I know he isn't a part of your family from Suna, yet you are helping him." 

"Hinata…I wouldn't hesitate to help Itachi." Gaara replied. "We from Suna think of you from Konoha and us as one Family. I think of Itachi like a brother."

"I suppose you're right," Hinata said. "We should stop thinking of ourselves as from Suna or from Konoha and just think of ourselves as one Family." Hinata smiled a large smile at Gaara and he moved his lips in a way that Hinata would recognize as a smile. 

That said, the pair continued on towards the next town.

* * *

A man in a black cloak adorned with red clouds lounged in his stone throne in the Akatsuki base. A large man in the same cloak kneeled before the man in the throne, the leader of the Akatsuki. 

A slim woman walked into the room and kneeled also. "Kakashi and the one called Itachi have left the rest to go on a training trip." 

"Really?" the leader asked. His voice was dark and smooth. His voice would have creeped most people out. "Perhaps we should send our newest recruits to show the rest of the Family some kindness."

"Hmph." The large man said. "They are weak. The three of them won't have a chance against all of the clones." 

"You say that," the leader said. "but I wonder if you are just jealous of Jirobo. After all his skills are similar to yours."

The large man snorted, as if comparing him to Jirobo was idiocy. 

"You are right, though," the leader said. "They are weaker than us. But you forget that everything I do has a purpose in the long run. This is merely a test of the Family's skills." 

He nodded towards the slim woman. "I want you to be at the battle between Jirobo, Kidomaru, Sakon, Ukon and the Family. Just in case all of them end up killed or captured. I'll need someone to tell me how the battle went." 

The slim woman nodded. "How do you think the new recruits will do?" 

The leader shrugged. "I can't really say. I don't know how strong the Family is. But this will be a good test for them. Let's see if they pass…"

To be continued

It's celebration time! This fanfic has officially over 1000 hits! I think it's somewhere around 1100 or 1200, I can't remember. Honestly, I don't really know how good that is, but I'll take it. As always, please leave me a review, any sort of criticism is appreciated. I'm on spring break this week, so I'll probably update again pretty soon.


	18. First Encounter

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but maybe dreams can come true.

First Encounter

Itachi stopped and wiped the sweat from his brow. Kakashi and he had traveled to a town very far away from Konoha, just to climb the town's very tall mountain. Kakashi was farther up the trail, looking down at Itachi. "What's wrong?" Kakashi asked. "I thought you were a ninja."

"I am," Itachi answered. "But it doesn't mean that I like hiking up mountains."

Kakashi merely turned around and kept walking up the trail, and Itachi hurried to catch up to him.

At long last, Itachi and Kakashi finally reached the summit of the mountain. The summit was flat, and a few trees and sparse grass decorated the ground. Itachi slung his heavy pack to the ground, while Kakashi also dropped his pack, which Itachi could've sworn was lighter than his.

"Set up the tent. I'll go get firewood." Kakashi said before walking off.

Itachi began to set up the tent in the most flat area he could find, and by the time he returned, Kakashi had returned with enough firewood to last a week. He arranged some of the wood in a teepee-like fashion, while Itachi put rocks around the teepee, making a primitive fire pit. Kakashi lit the fire with a small fire technique, then looked towards the sun, which was already on a downward descent.

"We'll train till sundown. Come on." Kakashi said, entering a taijutsu stance.

Itachi entered his own stance, and they began training.

* * *

Sakura put down the last medical book in the ANBU compound's library. After almost two weeks of scanning countless books, less than twenty of those books had any sort of relevance to Itachi's seals. The less than twenty that were relevant weren't even that helpful.

Sakura heard Kabuto sigh in frustration again, as he probably reread a particular paragraph or section in one of the relevant books. She picked up one of the relevant books herself and began reading.

Then, out of nowhere, the door to the library burst open, revealing Anko. "HEY! We can't have you guys sitting around in here all day, can we? Gaara and Hinata just came back, so why don't you guys go get something to eat?" Anko's loud voice boomed through the library, and Sakura almost had to crack a smile at her sensei's antics.

Kabuto glanced over at Sakura. "Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to go out and grab something to eat." Kabuto said as he leaned back in his chair. "It might relieve some stress."

* * *

Temari walked down one of the many hallways in the ANBU compound. Though she was getting better at finding her way around the compound, she was still having trouble. _Where is Itachi when I need him? _She rounded another corner and came face to face with Anko, who practically yelled, "Temari!"

After making sure her hearing still worked normally, Temari answered, "What is it, Anko-sensei?"

"Gaara, Hinata, Kabuto, and Sakura are all going out to eat. Don't you want to go with them?"

"Not really. It's not like they ever invited me to go with them any other time." Temari answered with a small amount of venom in her voice.

"Then how about just the two of us get something to eat?" Anko said with her toothy grin.

Temari thought it over for a moment. Having dinner with her sensei was always an adventure, but maybe this time Anko wouldn't stab anyone with a fork.

"Sure, that sounds nice." Temari answered.

They left after a few more minutes and walked to a restaurant whose specialty was dango.

They sat down and placed their order. Anko convinced Temari to do as she did and just order enough dango to feed a circus.

While they waited on their dango to arrive, they began small talk, and eventually Anko asked, "So, what do you think of Itachi?"

"He's a baka." Temari answered simply and quickly, as if the answer was an automatic response to the question.

"It's just that you seem to spend a lot of time with him, that's all." Anko said.

"Well, his room is right next mine."

"I hear that you and he go out to eat a lot too," Anko said.

"Because everyone else disappeared and left me with him." Temari said, almost bitterly. "Well, what do you think of Itachi?" Temari asked, rounding the question on Anko.

"I think that he is a lot like Kakashi. Except more of a smart-aleck and lazier."

Temari nodded. "I know what you mean."

* * *

Kabuto and Sakura walked quietly in the darkness, keeping their eyes alert for anyone who might be ahead of them. Firelight shone through the trees of the forest they were sneaking through. The pair moved towards the source of the light, keeping to the shadows and behind the trees to avoid detection.

Kabuto got within 20 feet of the light. He hid behind a thick tree and carefully peered around the trunk. He saw a team of four: one jonin, three chunin as far as he could tell. He looked for Sakura and saw that she was equally close to the enemy shinobi.

The Hokage had received reports of an enemy team of shinobi that had infiltrated Fire Country territory during the afternoon, and had dispatched Kabuto and Sakura to look into the matter. Their orders were to capture the shinobi and bring them into the village. A squad of three chunin were waiting to help if needed.

Kabuto didn't think the chunins' help would be necessary. There were only four enemies, and three of them were chunin.

Kabuto looked at Sakura once again to make sure she was ready. She nodded at him, and Kabuto nodded back. He held up his hand and stretched out three fingers. Then two. Then one.

Kabuto and Sakura sprang out of their cover and began to run towards the enemy shinobi. The shinobi reacted quickly, and threw several kunais and shuriken at the pair. Kabuto scoffed as he took out his own kunai and deflected the projectiles. He and Sakura were above thrown weapons now.

They finally met the enemy and began to exchange blows. Sakura punched one chunin in the stomach and the shinobi went flying into a tree. A ball of fire flew towards Sakura, but she jumped out of the way of the technique. Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Kabuto throw down a smoke bomb, and white smoke engulfed the area around him.

The shinobi Kabuto had been fighting fell out of the smoke and Kabuto soon ran out of the smoke himself. The enemy shinobi fell to the ground, unconscious. Sakura dodged another fireball, then barely managed to dodge a blade as the enemy jonin appeared behind her. She jumped towards the only remaining chunin, and the chunin threw up a wall of earth as a defense. Sakura grinned.

The earthen barrier exploded, and the chunin flew towards a tree with a new lesson in mind: These Konoha women were dangerous.

Sakura grinned again and began to look for the enemy jonin. She saw the enemy Jonin was sparring with Kabuto in a melee. The Jonin's sword was flaming, and he occasionally used an earth jutsu to try and attack Kabuto. Kabuto, however, was mainly dodging, not really trying to get any hits in on the Jonin.

Suddenly, the Jonin's sword sliced through Kabuto. He disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the real Kabuto leapt out of the ground behind the Jonin. Kabuto used a chakra scalpel on the back of the man's neck, and the Jonin's eyes rolled into the back of his head. He passed out on the ground and didn't get up.

* * *

Back at Konoha, the enemy Jonin sat in the interrogation room. Gaara sat in a chair facing the Jonin, unmoving. The Jonin fidgeted under Gaara's steady, unmoving gaze.

Sakura looked in the interrogation room through a reverse mirror. "How much longer are you going to let this go on?" She asked Tsunade, who stood next to her.

"Let's see if he'll crack under pressure." she answered.

After a few more minutes, Kabuto walked into the interrogation room. He walked towards the Jonin, who was grateful that someone other than Gaara was in the room, and said, "Hold still."

Kabuto's hand glowed blue, and he touched the Jonin's head. After a minute, Kabuto took off his hand, and said, "That should make you a little more open."

"You altered my mind to make me tell the truth?" the Jonin asked.

"Sort of." Kabuto answered. "Why were you here?"

"Why else?" The Jonin said. "We were hired to sneak onto Fire Country land."

"Why?"

"I don't know. The person who hired us just said to sneak in and wait." The Jonin thought for a minute. "I think he knew we would be attacked."

"Why would he want you to be attacked?"

"I don't know."

"What did he look like?"

"He was wearing a black cloak. I didn't get a good look at him."

Kabuto scowled. These answers weren't very helpful. He left the interrogation room and met up with the Hokage and Sakura.

"He wasn't much help." Sakura lamented.

Kabuto shook his head. "I can't believe someone took that kind of assignment with that little information."

"What village are they from?" Tsunade asked.

"The chunin said that they are from Waterfall." Kabuto said. "I don't know why anyone from Waterfall would have something against Konoha." Kabuto said as he shrugged.

Tsunade scowled. "This seems like a bad omen. If I start to win any gambling matches, we're pulling out all of our teams from their current assignments." She turned to Sakura and asked, "How much longer with Kakashi and Itachi be gone?"

Sakura shrugged and answered, "Their last letter said it could be as long as another month."

"Another month? Isn't one month enough?" Tsunade said. "I'd feel a lot better if two of my most powerful shinobi were here."

* * *

Jirobo walked through one of Konoha's many forests. Kidoumaru wasn't very far behind him. The black-cloaked companions were following the Leader of Akatsuki orders to attack this "Family" he was so interested in.

"Stupid forest." Jirobo mumbled.

"It isn't called "The Village Hidden in the Leaves" for nothing, you know." Kidoumaru said. "What do you have against forests, anyway?"

"I'm claustrophobic in forests. It feels like all the trees are squeezing in one me."

"Then shouldn't you feel like everything, anywhere is squeezing in on you?" Kidoumaru asked his wide-gerthed companion.

Jirobo just snorted and continued walking. After a few minutes, Jirobo asked, "Do you think that these guys will be weak?"

"I couldn't say until I've seen them fight."

The two partners marched on through the night, and reached their destination of Konoha by dawn. Immediately, Jirobo picked up a large piece of earth, literally ripping in out of the ground, and hurled it at the walls of Konoha.

"That should get their attention." Jirobo said.

To be continued

I hope everyone can forgive for this update taking so long. I guess I'm just not going to be able to update as much as I'd like. Incidentally, as the president of the world's procrastinators, I've called for a meeting…later.


	19. Attack!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Attack!**

As soon as she heard the crash of the boulder, Tsunade just knew Konoha was being attacked. She immediately called for some ANBU. Before she could do anything, she had to know what she was up against.

* * *

At the ANBU compound, ANBU were rushing everywhere. Kabuto stopped one of them and asked, "What's going on?"

"Konoha is being attacked by someone throwing huge boulders," the ANBU said calmly. Kabuto was impressed by the ANBU's cool actions during what could potentially be a crisis.

"Tell Tsunade-sama that the Family is ready to move at her word," Kabuto said before running down a hall to find Anko. Anko was currently the leader of the Family. She had to be informed of this.

Kabuto ran to the training area, where Anko could be found most of the time, and saw that Anko was standing on top of one of the walls of the open ceiling. Kabuto ran to join her.

Anko looked out in the direction that the attack was coming from. Huge boulders were hitting Konoha's walls every few minutes. The damage done was minor, though it would still take some time to repair. _This wasn't a serious attack_, thought Anko, _this is being done to get our attention._

Kabuto appeared beside her and watched as another boulder hit the Konoha walls. "I see that you already know of the attack." Kabuto said.

"You mean the attention-getter? Yeah, I know." Anko answered. "Tell an ANBU to tell Hokage-sama that we will handle this."

* * *

Jirobo hefted yet another boulder and hurled it at the walls of Konoha. Kidomaru was currently sitting in a tree, using all six of his hands to play with some of his Golden Spider Thread.

"They sure are taking a while to get the message." Kidomaru said. "I would have thought they were brighter than this."

"Heh, you give them too much credit," Jirobo said as he lifted another chunk of earth. "When is Sakon supposed to arrive?"

"He didn't say. He'd better get here soon though. I don't want to fight all six of these guys by ourselves." Kidomaru said.

Some brush moved in the forest, and Sakon appeared from behind the two. He walked over to the other two and said, "You still haven't engaged the enemy? Hmph. I was hoping you would already be fighting by now."

Kidomaru let out a hollow chuckle and dropped to ground from his perch on the tree. "Why's that? Hoping to finish off the enemy after we'd weakened them? Hoping you could take all of the glory?"

Sakon grabbed the collar on Kidomaru's cloak. "What did you say?!" Sakon screamed at Kidomaru.

"Careful, Sakon. You don't want me as an enemy." Kidomaru said coolly.

Sakon sneered, then noticed the sharp point of a golden kunai sticking out of Kidomaru's mouth. He let Kidomaru go and stepped back.

"Let's wait a little bit longer." Kidomaru said.

* * *

Anko, Kabuto, Hinata, and Gaara jumped through trees to the source of the boulders. Sakura and Temari were on a mission elsewhere, so they weren't going to be able to help beat these mystery attackers.

The Family hopped through trees until they reached a clearing in the forest. All of the Family landed and stopped to look at their attackers. They all had the same outfit. A black cloak with red clouds on it. Anko cringed when she saw those cloaks.

One of the men was large and portly. Judging from the holes in the earth around him, he was the one throwing the boulders. Another of the men appeared to have two heads, and still another had six arms.

"No one can ever call us weird again," Kabuto whispered to his team.

"Well, look who finally showed up." The six armed man said. "Introductions are in order I suppose. I'm Kidomaru," Kidomaru motioned to his two comrades. "And they are Jirobo and Sakon. But we already know who you are."

"Enough of this," Kabuto said. "Why are you here?"

"Why?" Kidomaru smiled. "To kill you of course."

At that, the talking ended. Jirobo rushed at the Family, who all jumped out of the way of the giant. Anko landed then jumped off into the woods, yelling "I'll make sure there aren't any others!"

Jirobo turned all his attention on Kabuto and began to chase the medic. "I'll crush you, four-eyes!" Jirobo shouted. Jirobo began to chase after Kabuto with a great vigor, swinging his huge arms wildly. Kabuto dodged Jirobo's haphazard swings and finally managed to jump a few feet away from the giant. Jirobo grabbed a nearby tree, uprooting it, and began to use the tree as a weapon. Kabuto dropped to the ground on his stomach, barely evading the tree. _I wonder how the others are doing, _Kabuto thought as he rolled on his side, avoiding the tree, which Jirobo now swung straight down towards Kabuto.

* * *

Gaara watched as Jirobo uprooted a tree and began to attack Kabuto with it. His sand shield suddenly caught two golden kunai. He looked to the direction of their origin and saw the six armed man, Kidomaru.

"Hope you don't mind if I'm your opponent," Kidomaru said with a grin. "I read a lot about you Gaara-kun. I want to test your abilities myself."

"I don't mind at all," Gaara said. "As long as you don't mind dying." Gaara's eyes bored into Kidomaru.

_Heh. He's scarier than I thought._ Kidomaru thought. "Well then, let's move to another area." Kidomaru said as he jumped into the forest.

Gaara followed Kidomaru. Kidomaru turned around to face Gaara and began to jump through the trees backwards. He then spit several golden kunai out of his mouth towards Gaara. Gaara didn't even blink and simply let his sand shield block all of the kunai. Kidomaru jumped down and landed, with Gaara following suit.

"That Sand shield is pretty good isn't it? It blocks just about anything." Kidomaru said with his ever present grin.

Gaara made no answer but let his sand fly towards Kidomaru. Kidomaru jumped backwards and spit out a sticky gold web towards the sand. Gaara's sand moved through the holes in the webbing. The web slowed the sand down for just a few moments. Long enough for Kidomaru to shoot a spear-like weapon out of his mouth towards Gaara. The spear shot through Gaara's attacking sand and continued towards Gaara. Just as it would have impaled Gaara, his absolute defense sand leapt up to stop the spear. It hardened instantly, and the spear broke. By the time that Gaara looked to where Kidomaru had been, the spider man was gone.

* * *

As Kabuto was attacked by Jirobo, Sakon took the opportunity to rush one of their opponents. Sakon ran towards the girl with the long black hair. "For such a pretty girl, it's a shame you have to die." Sakon said as he appeared beside her. He raised his arm and two other arms grew out of the appendage. He tried to punch Hinata, but her Byakugan was already activated. She dodged his many fast punches almost effortlessly, and then jumped back. Hinata entered the gentle fist stance and said, "You'll have to forgive me. I'm something of the taijutsu expert in the Family."

"That so?" Sakon grinned. "Then this should be interesting, considering I sort of a taijutsu expert too."

Sakon charged Hinata and began to attack. Hinata dodged almost all of the attacks, with the occasional three-armed punch catching her off guard. Hinata then implemented the gentle fist style and began her own offensive. However, every time she attacked, her fists were blocked by not just Sakon, but also by arms and legs that popped out of Sakon's body.

"Heh heh. Do you like my bloodline traits?" Sakon asked. "It seems to be a match for yours. After all, how can you block my chakra if you can't hit me?" Sakon asked.

Hinata merely closed her eyes in concentration and began to move her hands intricately. She created lines of chakra and from the lines, created a shield. Then, she began to shoot needles of chakra from her fingers at Sakon.

Surprised, Sakon reacted to slowly, and a needle caught him in the arm. His arm stung, and a small amount of blood poured from the wound. Sakon began to run and used his incredible speed to dodge the chakra needles. Eventually, Sakon ended up behind a tree, catching his breath, as the tree was slowly shredded by the chakra needles.

"It seems like I don't have much of a choice," Sakon said.

* * *

Kabuto ignited chakra scalpels on his hands and charged Jirobo. The giant brought down the tree he was wielding on Kabuto. Kabuto side-stepped and used his scalpel to cut the tree in half. Jirobo discarded the remains of the tree and lunged toward Kabuto. Jirobo swung his leg up, connecting his knee with Kabuto's stomach. Kabuto groaned in pain and fell to his knees. Jirobo raised his fists into the air and brought them down, intending to crush Kabuto. Kabuto rolled forward, though, rolling in between Jirobo's monstrous legs and came around behind the giant. Kabuto stood up quickly and hit the base of Jirobo's spine, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

Jirobo turned around to face Kabuto and laughed. "Was that tickle an attack?" You'll have to do better than that. But you won't have a chance." Jirobo attempted to punch Kabuto again, but Kabuto jumped backwards, out of Jirobo's reach. Kabuto then jumped back towards Jirobo and touched Jirobo's arm with his scalpel. Kabuto started to jump away but was backhanded by Jirobo's other arm.

Kabuto fell back several feet from Jirobo. He stood up and took a breather. "You backhanded me with your other hand. Does that mean that the arm I hit is weaker than before?" Jirobo's face hardened and Kabuto knew his words struck true. "I cut some of the muscles in your left arm, which severely weakened it."

Jirobo's face grew angry and he shouted at Kabuto, "You jerk! I'll crush you!"

Kabuto smiled a rather creepy smile. "Your specialty is taijutsu. Not even fancy moves or opening chakra gates, but just taijutsu that is based on pure strength. Since my attack style also relies on taijutsu, I had to find another weakness. Therefore, I focused on your intelligence. I once heard someone say, 'Combat is an equation. Those with intelligence have a natural advantage'. I realized how true that is fighting you."

Jirobo's face turned red in anger and he ripped a chunk of earth from the ground and hurled it at Kabuto. It landed with a crash. When the dust and smoke cleared Kabuto was nowhere to be seen. Jirobo looked everywhere for Kabuto, then figured it out. Jirobo slammed his fist into the ground, cracking and decimating the ground around him. He also revealed Kabuto, who was underground.

Kabuto jumped out of the decimated earth and rushed at Jirobo. Jirobo grinned and said, "Let's see who isn't intelligent now!" Jirobo stomped the ground in front of himself and a wall of earth popped up in front of him, causing Kabuto's charge to stop. Jirobo punched the wall of earth and sent it flying towards Kabuto, who barely managed to jump out of the way. Jirobo jumped towards Kabuto and landed only a few feet away then slammed his hands into the ground.

"Earth style: Dungeon of Nothing!" Jirobo shouted. The earth lifted up and surrounded Kabuto, who looked on in concern. The earthen wall grew until it was a dome prison with Kabuto inside.

Jirobo placed his hands on the wall and began to suck Kabuto's chakra. Jirobo couldn't help but gloat. "You thought you were so much smarter than me. But it looks like you're caught in my technique. The Dungeon of Nothing technique allows me to drain your chakra while you're in there. And there is no way out!"

Inside the dome, it was dark. Kabuto could just barely see in the darkness. Experimentally, Kabuto tried to ignite a chakra scalpel. The chakra was quickly drained and faded from his hand. "In a place that sucks up chakra, Its almost impossible to focus a scalpel." Kabuto said. He punched the wall, making a small dent in the wall. The wall repaired itself.

Outside, Jirobo heard the punch. "Heh. That's why this prison is inescapable. The walls will just repair themselves if they are damaged."

Inside, Kabuto frowned. He could see how this technique could beat even experienced jonin or ANBU. But it didn't matter. _I didn't want to use this unless I had to…but I suppose I have to._ Kabuto thought. Kabuto used some hand signs and said, "Medical technique: Delayed Reaction!"

Jirobo suddenly yelled as he felt a great pain at the base of his back. He fell over, his hands letting go of the wall. Jirobo moaned in pain.

Inside, Kabuto could hear his technique working. "Let's see if I can get out now." Kabuto's hands glowed as he ignited his scalpels. The scalpels stayed bright, not being drained away like before. Kabuto smiled and began to cut the earthen walls with his scalpels.

Outside of the prison, the prison itself fell apart as Kabuto cut at it from the inside. The dome collapsed, and Kabuto emerged from the rubble. Jirobo lied on the ground, groaning. From the ground, Jirobo managed to mumble, "How?"

Kabuto smirked. "Remember when I hit your back earlier and nothing happened? That was a part of my technique. I could have just severed your spine then, but that would have required more focus and precision on my part. Although it take a lot of chakra, using this technique, I can decide how much damage is done to the opponent later and make the damage delayed."

Jirobo growled on the ground.

Kabuto continued. "I severed your spine. You're paralyzed from the waste down now. I could just leave you here, but you are too dangerous."

Kabuto ignited his scalpels and looked down at Jirobo. "You'll have to forgive me," Kabuto said as light reflected off his glasses, hiding his eyes.

* * *

Gaara's sand shield practically engulfed him as golden kunai shot from every conceivable direction. Once Kidomaru had disappeared, he set up wire trigger kunai traps everywhere. Gaara waited until he was sure that all of the kunais were shot before lowering his shield. He looked through the trees, searching for Kidomaru.

"That shield doesn't have a blind spot, does it?" Kidomaru asked, using the Voice Throwing Technique.

"Of course not." Gaara said.

"I see," Kidomaru said. "I may have to call some help." Kidomaru bit his thumb and performed some hand motions. "Summoning Technique!"

A cloud of smoke appeared above Gaara, and out of the cloud of smoke, a giant spider appeared. The spider created a web in the branches and trees above Gaara, then laid an egg sack. A golden kunai flew out of the forest and cut the egg sack above Gaara. Smaller spiders around the size of Gaara's fist rained down on him. Gaara narrowed his eyes and sent several blasts of sand upwards, catching several spiders and crushing them.

Kidomaru took the opportunity to retreat farther back into the forest. Gaara continued to squash various smaller spiders with his sand. It didn't take long for Gaara to realize that he would have to destroy the mother spider to stop the continuous flow of spiders. Gaara stopped crushing the smaller spiders and focused his sand on the mother spider. The mother spider was covered in sand before long, as Gaara had her encased in the Desert Coffin.

"Desert Funeral!" Gaara sand, and the mother spider was crushed and turned into webbing.

"Nice going," Kidomaru said using the Voice Throwing Technique again. "You managed to force my summon to retreat. But you haven't won this game yet. The difficulty may be higher than I originally thought, but I have the upper hand now."

Gaara didn't say anything. Kidomaru, who was around one hundred meters away hiding in a tree, readied his golden bow. He used his golden spider web to make the bow and its arrows. He had learned long ago to infuse his chakra into the arrows to make the arrows more powerful. With these, he could pierce Gaara's sand shield.

Kidomaru took off the headband that signified him as a missing nin. The headband also hid his third eye, which he only used to be extremely accurate. He drew back his bow string and took aim with one of his golden arrows. Gaara was lined up in his sights. He let loose the bow string.

The golden arrow was propelled through the forest at incredible speeds. Gaara barely saw the arrow coming. His shield came up in time and intercepted the arrow. But to Gaara's surprise, the arrow penetrated his shield and hit him in the shoulder. It wasn't too serious of a wound, because his sand had slowed the arrow down quite a bit.

Gaara heard the tell-tale swoosh of another arrow and quickly began to make hand signs. "Shield of Shukaku!" He said. A raccoon-shaped statue of sand began to form in front of Gaara. The arrow hit the statue and made an explosion of sand. When the sand cleared, the statue stood with a huge dent in it. But the arrow hadn't gotten through and was embedded in the statue.

"Enough of this. Time to end it." Gaara said. He made more hand seals and said, "Desert Prison!"

A huge amount of sand appeared from the ground and rushed towards Kidomaru. The sand was the size of a tidal wave, and heading straight for the six-armed man. Kidomaru's eyes widened and he tried to run from the sand, but there was no escape. The wave of sand washed away trees as it pursued Kidomaru. It finally caught up to the man and devoured him. Gaara touched the sand at his feet and said, "Desert Imperial Funeral," and crushed anything within the sand.

Everything was still for a few minutes. Then, some of the sand stirred in the middle of the ocean of sand. Kidomaru climbed out of the sand, covered in a golden armor. The armor fell apart as he climbed out of the sand. He stood up, barely, and decided that retreating was the best option right now. He turned and fled from Gaara, who watched him run away.

Gaara didn't have enough chakra to use another gigantic wave of sand, and he wasn't a very fast runner. Kidomaru was already several hundred meters away. Gaara narrowed his eyes. This one had gotten away.

* * *

Hinata kept her Byakugan eyes on both of the figures when they both rushed out from behind the tree. She figured one was a clone, meant to fool her. Kunai flew her way, and she could see the exploding tags attached to them. She jumped away, landing on a tree limb and watched the explosions.

Sakon appeared behind her and kicked the tree limb, destroying it and causing Hinata to fall. On the ground, the other Sakon appeared and attacked. A fist hit her gut, and she grunted, then jumped back. The two Sakons watched her.

"Let's kill her, Ukon." Sakon said.

"Let's." the one called Ukon said.

Hinata wasn't sure what Sakon's technique was, but she knew that the two of them were fully real and not clones. You don't name a clone, after all. The two rushed at Hinata and they began to melee. Hinata was good, but against two taijutsu experts, she was getting pummeled. Hinata decided to step it up and used the Eight Trigrams: Heavenly Spin technique to knock both of her enemies back.

While her enemies fell, Hinata used the opportunity to attack again using the Empty Palm technique. She shot focused blasts of chakra at her opponents, blasting both of them.

"It's over," Hinata said as she gathered an immense amount of chakra into her hands. She blasted the chakra at the two. A green beam of chakra rushed towards them, hungry for their destruction.

Sakon and Ukon nodded at each other and jumped to their feet. They both bit their thumb and simultaneously performed the summoning technique. They both said, "Summoning: Rashomon Gate!"

A gate appeared in a puff of smoke and the brothers hid behind it. Hinata's beam of chakra hit the gate and was blocked easily. The gate disappeared in more smoke and the brothers headed towards Hinata.

_This is it…_Hinata thought. She was low on chakra and couldn't afford to do anything very big. She could continue to do the Heavenly Spin, but didn't think she could finish off the two of them.

As the brothers headed towards her, Kakashi appeared behind them. The brothers looked at him in shock and surprise. Their expressions didn't last long because Kakashi slammed the glowing orb of Rasengan into Sakon. The ball of spinning chakra blasted Sakon fifty feet into the air. Kakashi appeared behind him in the air, and grabbed him, performing the Primary Lotus. Kakashi slammed Sakon into the ground, jumping away at the last second. He landed softly.

Ukon was open-mouthed. So was Hinata though. Itachi appeared beside Hinata, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Hinata turned to face him, and ended up giving him a hug. "Let me handle this one," Itachi said.

Hinata nodded and stepped back. Itachi's sharingan eyes changed into a sharingan Hinata had never seen before. (cough it looks the same as Kakashi's mangekyo sharingan cough)

Itachi focused his eyes on the remaining foe and used the technique Kakashi had taught him. A black dot appeared on Ukon's head, and all of the matter in the area began to be sucked into the dot, including Ukon's head. After a moment, Itachi stopped the technique and Ukon, headless, fell to the ground.

The slim Akatsuki woman watched intently. _So, Itachi has a new technique, eh? That doesn't changed the fact that he can't even use hand signs anymore. _The slim woman jumped away, heading back to the Akatsuki stronghold.

To be continued

It's been a long time, hasn't it? To all, I am sincerely sorry I haven't written in so long. Really though, for a long time, it seemed like was holding its breath. I think school and college final exams had a lot to do with that. That's really no excuse for me though. As always, please leave a review, good or bad. If you do leave a review, I'll put your name on the next chapter as a thank you.

This chapter was about 1700 words longer than my others. Not that it's a bad thing though. I normally try to shoot for about 2000 words, but I think I going to try and shoot for 3000 from now on. Or at least try and see how that goes.


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